Prayer of St Francis
by Yamchas Big Pants
Summary: KO After X2, Ororo struggles to unravel the mystery surrounding the Incredible Nightcrawler His head rolled with her gesture, savouring the feel of her flesh to his.
1. Prayer of St Francis

_Prayer of St Francis _

__

_By Yamcha's Big Pants (YBP) aka Kirsty Graham.___

_Lord make me an instrument of your peace,  
Where there is hatred let me sow love._

_Where there is injury, pardon.  
Where there is doubt, faith.___

Kurt Wagner, star of the Munich Circus and newly initiated X-man stared down at the small bashed crucifix in his palm, his very unusual palm. Two blue fingers lay open and a thumb caressed the warm silver delicately. His thin blue lips mumbled a short prayer over and over under his breath. His God was far away. Not as far away as he had been. Kurt had thrown himself into a rigid regime of self discipline in the strictest sense of the word. He had been given his own room here at the institute and had confined himself for the last week. 

Where could he lay the blame? Where? At his feet? At Stryker's feet? At those of the human or mutant race? Or perhaps Magneto and Professor Xavier's themselves. Right now it didn't matter. He'd been manipulated, that much he knew and had resisted temptation when Stryker had dangled retribution and sweet revenge in front of his face. Therefore…could he be blamed?

****FlashBack****

"It's a simple question Wagner. I'm offering you the opportunity to kill your oppressors over there"

"This little bit of technology will turn off the inhibitor collar."

"…That would be against God"

  
"Whose God? More people kill in the name of God than for any other reason on this Godforsaken planet!"

"The only thing forsaken by God will be those who kill in his name, my God is capable of nothing but love. My God even loves people like you"

**** ****

Kurt shook his head as he felt a long shiver shudder down his spine. Wolverine might have had the safety net of amnesia but he knew exactly what had happened to him and EXACTLY what he had almost done. He had committed many sins in his life, his body was witness to that, but he had never killed before. He had come within inches of killing the President of the United States and the whole ordeal of being trapped inside his own body had left him shaken and guilty as sin itself. So now being self confined within this room airy, light and better than anything he deserved, he contemplated and prayed without answer. 

"Our Father 

Who art in Heaven

Hallowed be they name

Thy Kingdom come 

Thy will be done

On Earth as it is in Heaven

Give us today our daily bread

And forgive us our sins

As we forgive those…"

Nightcrawler, blue, tattooed demon of the circus fell forward once again, his body wracking with great sobs. God never left his children in this sort of darkness. He had wondered if it was a test. Maybe it had been, but this whole mutant problem had taken so much out of him. He would never have known the existence of other mutants if he hadn't been captured by Stryker and maybe that was a good thing. But it must be in God's great plan he reasoned through silent watery tears. It must be in his plan that all this had happened. Surely. Originally, his latest sin, attempted murder, had been one which had left him confused.  Was it his fault? Was it his sin or Stryker's? Or both? His answer seemed to lie in all the opportunities he'd been given for redemption. Rogue's rescue, his information about Alkalie Lake and his help in rescuing the children and Professor Xavier. But then Jean…Why hadn't God allowed him to save Jean. Why wasn't he given permission to rescue her from the icy depths of the flooded slipway? The pain had gnawed at him for the past few weeks. Why? Why? Why?

            Gold eyes flickered down to the small bandage Jean had secured around his injury only weeks before as it lay limp in his palm. Jean had died to save her fellow mutants, to save him, whom she hardly knew, to save her husband, her friends, and her mentor. So why hadn't God allowed _him _to save her? It should have been his sacrifice. Even although his powers were inadequate to cope with the situation, he should have been the one to die. The sins he had to atone for, were worse than anything she'd ever committed. And now Kurt was left wondering mournfully what was wanted of him and where his Lord was. Another tear inched down Kurt's cheek, slowed only by the bizarre and unique scars on his face. His wrist stung painfully where the newest and most intricate addition was engraved, and the twang reminded him of the suffering endured by his Lord and Savior. His sorrowful meditation was halted by a gentle knock on the door.

_Where there is despair, hope.  
Where there is darkness, light.  
And where there is sadness, joy._

Ororo Munroe made her way down the oaken staircase, a pair of boys chattering over a magazine they shared between them raised their eyes and smiled as they passed her on the stairs.

"Hi Miss Storm"

"Hello boys, watch you don't trip now, Canonball. We don't want a repeat of last week." She said absently, her maternal instincts conjuring forth various scenarios for the unfortunate large young man whose mutant ability was obvious from his size and apparent weight. He nodded guiltily before passing the printed pamphlet back to his partner and watched his steps intently as he continued up the stairs.

Ororo had always settled into the role of mother and protector for the students at the school. As a teacher herself she spent lots of time with the children and felt herself a good communicator and moral role model. That was until he'd slashed his way unwillingly into their lives. She'd never seen anything like him before. At first his demonic appearance and quick agile movements had made him an unnerving character to have to deal with. His foreign tongue and choice of HQ made him even more threatening to a "heathen" goddess such as herself. However, Kurt Wagner, rather than the Nightcrawler was far different though twice as intriguing. Ororo remembered clearly the runes on his skin with such vivid memory that she could still feel the soft raised quality of their paths. The soft slow dipping and turning motion of his head, the way his gaze shifted so gracefully and timidly from face to face. His honey-golden eyes a most mesmerizing colour had flicked to hers at the touch of her hand on his skin. Such a gentle neutral touch, curious but conveying no emotion had stirred something in him she was sure. A moment of sadness, heartache and a dangerous mix of something fiery like…lust had momentarily lit them to platinum and back again in the blink of an eye. Soemthing was hidden in those angelic symbols something that could help her understand this man whom she felt drawn to, like a moth to a flame. But something which could help him understand himself better. His midnight blue skin horded so many secrets of a faith, a background, a heritage and a human being that so little was known about anymore.

Ororo caught herself standing still at the bottom of the stairway. She shook her head lightly in an attempt to clear it and decided to pay the Professor a visit. At this time in the evening the children were usually escorted to their bedrooms and only the teachers and older occupants of the institute were permitted to roam the house. However these nightly conversations, meetings and sometimes dinners had turned increasingly morose and somber without the claming company of Jean grey. Scott hardly joined them anymore. Originally after Jean…well after the incident, he had taken his car out and driven, simply driven. Ororo guessed it was to be away from the pain and loneliness of the room they had shared together. But after a little while he had returned and concealed himself inside like a prison. Much in the way that the mysterious Nightcrawler was doing now. She was worried for her friends.

Knocking lightly on the Professor's door, Ororo stepped inside. The room was filled with a honey glow as the Professor sat in his smocking jacket and slippers with a book of fairytales in his lap. Several young mutants were seated in a circle, some cuddling teddy bears, other's sucking thumbs or some already asleep. Logan sat in the corner, holding a bottle of soda in one hand and watching the child he had rescued during the…incident. There was a wistful distant look on his face. With the click of the door his attention drew to Ororo. He acknowledged her with a small smirk and swigged some of his beverage. Some children looked up through sleepy eyes and smiled. A tiny scaled skinned boy pushed himself up and waddled towards her wrapping his small cold arms around her warm chocolate leg. She bent down and picked him up.

"That will all for tonight children, we'll finish the story tomorrow" The Professor said in that quiet refined voice of his as he closed the book. There was a chorus of "Good night Professor" and a troop of little and not so little people each hugged him or kissed his cheek before leaving to their rooms. Logan sighed placing his bottle on the desk and picked up two or three sleeping babes. He held them so gently, even as a little girl was swung over his shoulder in a fireman's lift it was so obvious to see that the Wild Wolverine could indeed be tamed. He took the small boy from Storm's arms and grunted as he left the room. 

Ororo was left alone with the Professor who rolled towards one of the many bookcases lining his room and replaced the brightly bound book. "What can I do for you Ororo?"

Storm sat in the chair Logan had previously occupied. "I'm sorry to disturb you Professor but I was wondering if you could find out if Kurt is laright"

The Professor turned in his wheelchair to face her. "Ah yes, kurt. He's in his room right now. I can see he's upset. I wouldn't like to probe his mind, but if you think that there's something wrong…"

"No, thank you Professor" Ororo interjected, "I think he is suffering from the same thing we all are" She said quietly watching as Dr Xavier's face softened in sadness.

"Jean" he remarked gently, then after a little consideration added. "Storm, do you think that Kurt might…talk to Scott? I believe that Scott came from a God fearing family. It might help both of them if Kurt could bring some solace to him. Perhaps you might ask him?"

She knew from the look on the Professor's face that he had already probed some little way into both the men's minds out of concern. He was asking her this for a prupose. Oh, she hoped he hadn't probed her mind!

"Storm" he said quietly as she turned to leave. "I know that you are being strong for everyone else, but sometimes it's better to grieve" he raised an eyebrow slightly "And I don't mean on your own" He'd definitely read her mind. She nodded with a sad smile and left. She would go check on Kurt before retiring to her own room and give him the proposition.

_O divine master grant that I may  
not so much seek to be consoled as to console;  
to be understood as to understand;  
  
_

Knocking lightly on his second floor room door, she heard a muffled sob, it stopped abruptly and there was the sound of teleportation. Twice. The latch on the door unlocked with a click. Turning the handle, Ororo entered the cold dark room, much less hospitable than Dr Xavier's Office had been. She began to wonder if this had been a bad idea. Suddenly the ominous room held much more than the deceivingly demonic looking Nightcrawler. A chill ran down her spine as a pair of golden eyes emerged sadly from the darkness. Their brilliant luminescence the only thing discernable against the darkness. They froze her with something childish and primitive that she wasn't sure she understood. Deciding to file the sensation away for later analysis, Storm heard his quiet foreign tones.

"Good evening Storm"

"Please call me Ororo"

"Very vell…Ororo"

There was an uncomfortable pause in which she felt like an absolute foreigner in his sanctuary. He surprised her slightly by breaking the silence. 

"Thank you," Kurt said very quietly, those unusual but arresting eyes pinned hers to his.

"What for?" She asked dumbfounded. 

His eyes disappeared for a second as he closed them, but reappeared like the sun and graced her face with their rays. "For not making me feel like a freak among freaks" His German accent grated the words and softened Storm's surprise.

"I saw the way they looked at you" She said; it was his turn to be surprised. 

"Vas?" 

"They looked scared of you Kurt. You'd think that being mutants they'd understand. But sometimes…" She looked down at the dying embers of the fire and knelt at the fireplace to rekindle them. "…sometimes we become so wrapped up in our own gifts and curses that we forget how bad it can be for others."

_To be loved as to love with all my soul  
For it is in giving that we receive,_

Nightcrawler found her fascinating He watched her back with mute admiration as she relit the fire, his eyes precise and accurate in the darkness. She looked like an angel but he knew she wasn't. When she spoke it was for him she did it, and Kurt felt himself on a level of intimacy he'd never had before…not even with Amanda…that stung. There was silence as the small flames in the fireplace began to dance as they ate up the tinder and grew.

"It's not bad" She heard softly next to her ear. Storm was a little startled but looked up into the radiant amber eyes of the Nightcrawler. The dim orange light of the fire darkened his skin to a deep raven colour, his runes only barely visible. Pointed white teeth glinted through slightly parted lips. Storm's breath caught for a moment. His tragic but beautiful eyes shifted ethereally to the flickering flames as he crouched beside her. She was still watching him and he glanced at her nervously.

"You don't ever wish you weren't a mutant?" She enquired gently, tilting her head to see his expression better in the failing light. 

"No" He responded draping his arms over his knees and staring levelly into the fire. Storm considered his face and lack of emotion carefully before retreating to herself. She really didn't understand him, or what was making her return to him each moment of her thoughts. She smoothed out the creases in her midnight blue satin nightdress. "Do you?" The gentle almost tentative question caught her off-guard. 

"What?"

He looked at her, his thin mouth hidden by a crease of his shirt on his slightly raised shoulder. "Do you ever vish you vere a normal human being?"

Storm sighed slightly and gave a casual roll of her shoulders. "I guess not, I'm just. Just angry. I don't want to be made any more different because of them"

Kurt seemed to ponder her words. "Then vhy aren't you vith Magneto?" She stared at him as though he were mad but he continued, turning to face her fully in the orange cast of the now thriving fire. "People segregate themselves into countries, races, languages. Humans make themselves different from each other, it's vhat they're best at" His voice became less vehement and dropped to a whisper. "Mutants can't help being different. Magneto plans to eliminate this difference does he not? …He forgets how bad it can be for others" His tender golden eyes looked up at her with understanding.

Storm stared at his eloquence in manipulating her words and the profoundly rational effect they had. She still didn't understand him, but the more she got to know him, the more interesting and endearing he became. He was an enticing mystery. He was knowledgeable and wise, so ethereal and beautiful inside. Something she knew she would never have the opportunity to know ever again. Something clicked in her mind and she looked at the now crackling flames, remembering why she had come to see him.

"Kurt, the Professor asked me to ask you for a favour" He titled his head in curiosity. "He wanted to know if there was anything you could do to try and console Scott" His eyes lost some of the light they had. 

"I'd…I'd like to, but…I fear I may make things vorse. I didn't know Jean, I may say something that vould upset him." Storm looked at him sympathetically. Kurt felt himself melt inside at the beauty he'd so easily commented on. 

"No Kurt, Jean was what you saw she was, you saw her in her finest hour… she was the best friend…" pain knitted her brow slightly and soon her eyes became cloudy, not with her meteorological power but with previously unshed tears. "…she was the best friend I ever had…I…I'm sorry" Hurriedly, brave strong, hard Storm wiped at her tears, banishing them as though they were poison.

_It is in pardoning that we are pardoned.  
And it's in dying that we are born to eternal life._

Kurt's merciful heart twisted at the sight of her and her resilient strength and he pulled her impulsively into his arms. They had a connection and he could feel it. Ororo could hold back the tears no longer. She wept bitterly and fervidly, clenching fistfuls of Kurt's loose shirt in her palms, pressing her face into his chest. While Wolverine and Scott had each done their own grieving and were now beginning to emerge at the other end of the dark tunnel, facing life without Jean with a  heavy but calm heart, she had been strong to preserve normalcy. Her time had come and Nightcrawler's gentle persuasion made it impossible for her to hold it back any longer. She shook in his arms, feeling him rock her backwards and forwards, until the searing pain of the sorrow had ebbed like the tide, only to come back again later. He drew her away slightly and peered timidly into her dark eyes.

"Better?" He asked, showing the tips of his pearly fangs. She managed a light smile through the remaining but slowing tears. He nodded. "I'm sorry Ororo, I vas being selfish, I vill talk to Scott if it's vhat you truly desire" In a sudden movement she threw her arms around Kurt's neck, taking him by surprise.

"Thank you Kurt, I appreciate it and so will Scott and…" She pulled away and looked him in the eyes. "Thank you for not making me feel like a freak."

He smiled looking more relaxed in her company than he had. "Anger is not a sin, mein seelenfreund" She frowned politely and a definite purple blush blossomed on his cheeks. "seelenfreunde means…soul-mate" 

She paused in his arms, his previous words combining with the affectionate term…"If it's what you truly desire"…A very serious expression cleared Storm's face, like the sea without wind. Even as remaining tears collected at her chin, she gazed at him softly. Ororo's hand strayed to his chin. With the gentlest of caresses she traced the design to his cheek, feeling the heat of his flesh and the strange texture of his skin. Was this what she truly desired? His calming amber eyes with the same timid, but pure and arresting gaze melted into her own before closing slowly. She ran pale, chocolate fingers through his short dark hair, receiving a cat-like purr of pleasure in return, slow and low, resonating through her hand. His head rolled with her gesture, savouring the feel of her flesh to his. Her eyes glided to his face to see a pained but pleasure filled frown knit his brow.

"Kurt…" She whispered almost unable to hear her own voice. He brought his head forward, away from her caress slowly and unwillingly opened his eyes. There was concern and perhaps fear in them. Fear of rejection. "I have to go to bed, I have a class tomorrow" She said softly. His eyes dulled in embarrassment and he gently moved away from her touch. 

"I'm sorry to have kept you Storm" He unfolded his legs and stood up. Reaching out a three fingered hand, he helped her to her feet. The gentle strength she felt in his grip was so characteristic of her new friend.

"Good Night Kurt" She said turning to leave. After a second thought she turned back and planted a small kiss on his cheek. He gasped lightly, thoroughly not expecting any second gesture, let alone a kiss. She moved back and smiled warmly into his striking eyes which were now wide and grateful. With that she traveled to her own room and left the "Incredible Nightcrawler" to ponder his future at the institute and reminisce on loves-lost and loves of the future. The memory of Amanda was still there, painfully claiming his heart, but he realized the beginning of a new life and perhaps time to let go of the past's sorrow. Looking to the window, Kurt smiled at how cloudless the dark night sky was.

_Amen _

AN: Hey guys, I don't know whether to leave it there or to continue and make this a big story. I wonder what you think? Please Read and Review and tell me, and be honest now. Do you think that this story could go anywhere or should it simply be a stand alone? Thank for your commitment and God bless!


	2. Something Beautiful

_Prayer of St Francis _

__

_Chapter 2 – Something Beautiful_

__

_By Yamcha's Big Pants (YBP) aka Kirsty Graham.___

AN : Okay guys, you asked for this! With a whopping 42 Reviews on my first chapter!!! Woo Hoo, give yourselves a clap! Thank you so much, I nearly choked when I saw how many I got. With a majority ratio of 10:1 I'm going to make this a multi-chapter story. For those of you who preferred the idea of a stand alone fic, then no problem. Simply be content with the first chapter on its own J For those reviewers who made constructive criticism about my grammar; thank you; Very often my system of writing lets me down. I usually type the story up as it comes to me, therefore I don't have any annoying pieces of paper floating about. By the time I'm finished the story I read over it once (sometimes) and then usually upload it. Because of my rather unprofessional approach, ie-lack of beta reading, there are frequently spelling and grammatical mistakes. Just because my train of thought makes sense to me and the character it doesn't always make sense to everyone else lol. I'll try to improve on this in the future. For those reviewers who don't know who Amanda is, she's a member of Kurt's adoptive circus family, she's used throughout the XMEN universe as a love interest for Kurt, and she's even in Evolution! I bought the Official Nightcrawler XMEN 2  Movie Prequel comic book. I advise you to buy that, most of my flashbacks are based on it and Kurt's references to Amanda are too, however you'll still understand it if you don't buy the comic. Finally, for the Anyway, enjoy!!! P.S I don't own Kurt/Ororo or any other characters mentioned in this or anything other chapter, they are property of Marvel and some other dudes and I'm using them without permission and without any profit. The song "Something Beautiful" is by Jars of Clay and I don't own it, and I'm using it without permission and without any gain.

_If you put your arms around me_

_Could it change the way I feel?_

_I guess I let myself believe_

_That the outside might just bleed it's way in_

The yellow light of the television flickered in quick sequences over his blue skin. Tawny eyes sat wide and focused on the screen in front of them. The handsome black and white image of Errol Flynn stood proud in his usual hero pose, inspiring the young blue mutant perched like a bird on the couch before him. The dashing swashbuckling star of the Silver Screen had always been an inspiration and almost a comfort to Kurt, especially when performing. He often imagined himself striking and adored as he swung from perch to perch before an audience, but was seldom met with a reception fit for an action star.

"Mommy look! He's really a devil!"

"No dear that's just make-up, it's good isn't it?"

This particular Flynn movie, "Robin Hood" was Kurt's favourite. It was the very idea that a man so outcast from everyday society by his "crimes" could be so well loved simply for his good deeds. Perhaps that was what Kurt took from the movie. However people in real life weren't always so ready to congratulate him on his shining accomplishments. Well maybe one person. A coy smile curled the edges of his mouth at the thought of the previous night. 

_"Please, call me Ororo"_

Ororo Munroe. He wondered when her last lesson would be finished. He didn't know what it was he wanted to ask her, or share with her, he just wanted to be in her presence again. Another memory twinged with the embarrassment of saying stupid popped into his mind.

_"Anger is not a sin, mien seelenfreund"_

What did he go and have to say that for? He'd known her for all of two or three weeks and he had already confessed being her soul-mate! She must think he was mad, or desperately lonely. Either of which, he knew she wouldn't think the same. He didn't know why he'd told her, he just felt the need to. They were so alike, he could feel it. He understood her pain and anger without even trying. He could feel every emotion that stirred within her, well all except one. He knew the toll Jean's death had taken on her. But there was one thing he didn't yet understand. Why did she spend her time with him? What was it about him that she found worthy of her attention? Why, when she herself could be mourning, did she come and trying ease his pain? 

_Maybe stir this sleeping past_

_Lying under glass_

_Waiting for kiss_

_That breaks this awful spell_

_And pull me out_

_Of this lonely hell_

Kurt's tail flicked out from where it had lain against his leg and grabbed the television remote. Flicking the sound up, he hoped to drown out his confusing thoughts. However his plan backfired when with a gasp he felt two hands slide down his shoulders and clasp over his chest. Timidly edging his eyes up, he felt the butterflies return when he was met with the tender smile of Xavier's favourite Weather witch. 

"Hi Kurt" She said softly, leaning her elbows on the sofa behind him. He grinned at her with those ivory coloured pointed teeth of his. "What're you watching?" She asked gesturing towards the TV. 

"Robin Hood" He replied, his enthusiasm for this topic was evident. "It's my favourite film."

Storm removed her hands and joined him, sitting on the arm of the couch. "Oh really?"

"Yes Errol Flynn is my idol" She looked slightly amused at this. It seemed that the "Incredible Nightcrawler" was full of pleasant surprises. "I always wanted to be just like him." He continued unaware of the fond feelings he was stirring in his companion. Who'd have thought that a person could be so misjudged? Kurt, in Ororo's opinion was worthy of more than the second glance she gave him. Beneath all those tattoos, beneath the blue skin, pointed ears and tail, there was a man; a man who had learnt so much through his own strife and retained his own personality; a man who had purpose and meaning and moved from situation to situation trusting in a being that, it appeared, had abandoned him. He was a miracle to her eyes. He inspired her, intrigued her, mystified her, and moved her and as she thought about this, she watched him. His eyes focused on the screen before him, intently studying an idol that was far superior to him in looks but could never match in heart and soul. Her quiet study was broken with the slam of the front door. Kurt looked up at her uncertainly. Only one person in the house entered the door like that these days. Scott Summers. 

Storm met Nightcrawler's concerned gaze. She searched his eyes. "Kurt, maybe you should talk to Scott now" She said quietly. He bowed his head slightly, obviously nervous about the whole idea then rose from the couch and straightened out. Walking on his strange bird-like feet, Kurt made the uneasy journey into the hall to find the bedraggled form of Cyclops bent over the small coffee table.

"Cyclops" Kurt ventured timidly, though it was not in his nature to be so, however having found such understanding with these people he did not want to jeopardize their respect with his perhaps inappropriate behaviour at times. Besides, so much had happened lately to alter the way he looked at the world, he didn't know if he'd ever be the same Kurt Wagner he had been before. 

Scott glanced over his shoulder as he shuffled through the mail. "Can I help you Kurt?" He asked politely, if a little resigned. 

"Umm…" Kurt's voice dropped to a whisper as he edged closer to the X-Men group leader. "Mr Summers, could I talk to you privately for a moment?" Scott turned to face him fully, holding a bunch of letters in his hand. 

"Well there's no one else here Kurt, what is it you want to say to me?" Kurt searched within himself for the answer. How could he propose this sort of offer to a man who was only just beginning to paste his fragile heart back together again?

"I…understand what you must be going through…Scott. If there's anything I can do…or indeed God can do…to help you, get through this…then all you have to do is ask. I'd more than happy to…" He was cut short by the sudden stiffening of Scott's jaw. One had to learn how to read the emotions of a man like Scott, whose eyes were not quite the windows to his soul they should have been. The only detection of his frail emotions was evident in the sudden bobbing of his Adam's apple. 

"No thank you Mr Wagner" He said curtly, turning from the blue mutant. With the frustrated stride of someone who has nowhere to go in a hurry, he travelled off down the corridor. Kurt stared after him downcast. Perhaps it had been too soon to offer such a thing to a man in Scott's position. Or maybe it had been the way he had said it. Running over the conversation in his mind, Kurt found himself joined by Ororo. She studied his face quietly, concern etched across her brow.

"Kurt?" Her voice was gentle and uneasy. His amber eyes flashed up into hers sadly.

"I don't think I said the right thing Ororo" Her gaze softened on him. 

"Just give him a little time. Grief is a hard thing to deal with sometimes…it can change who you are. For the worse and sometimes…" She looked at him meaningfully. "For the better" A smile lifted his lips slightly and brightened his saddened eyes. "I should thank you again" Storm's tone was reserved, giving it perhaps more meaning than her last statement. 

"Aus welchem grund?" Again a confused look from Storm alerted Kurt to the fact that he had slipped back into German once again. "Excuse me, I meant, what for?"

She smiled at his politeness. "Just for what you did last night. I needed to open up and you showed me that. Thank you." He nodded graciously, but the exchange left them both feeling slightly awkward.

The longer the silence prevailed, the more inclined Kurt felt to apologize for his "silly" comment the night before. "Ororo, about what I said last night…" He glanced up nervously into her eyes. "It was stupid of me to say that we were soul-mates…I apologize." He felt gentle pressure on his shoulder where her hand laid in a comforting gesture.

"I don't think it was stupid" He grinned at her reassurance in the way only Nightcrawler could. She returned his smile with gentle eyes and squeezed his shoulder slightly. He felt like he was walking on air. "I'll see you later Kurt, I've got papers to mark for the morning." At that she left him with a smirk and walked in the opposite direction to the staircase. Kurt watched her graceful form ascend the steps and felt himself focus on the gentle swing of her hips and the bounce of her soft cloud-like hair. The longing in his body was weakening. Something however was holding him back from telling her how he felt. Something from the life he had tried to put behind him. The Munich Circus, the Flying Trapeze…Amanda. He sighed heavily and retreated back to his Flynn fantasy.

_What I get from my reflection_

_Isn't what I thought I'd see_

_Give me reason to believe_

_And never keep my incomplete_

………………………

_Their bodies rocked together in an ancient movement, slow and rhythmic, sensual and primal, supplying pleasure through pain. Their flesh became one, as was their being in an exotic concoction of smells, sensations, noises and colour. It was drunkening. The erratic beating of one heart, the breath of one soul, the pulsating of their bodies in harmony was so intoxicating. _

Kurt Wagner awoke in a cold sweat, shaken and wailing in his native German. His dream had not been one of erotic, or sensual fantasy, but of reality. It was too vivid, too whole and real and utterly unexpected. It left him emotionally ragged and twitching in his intimate places, weak and rattled in his fragile repairing heart. Breaths came in long shuddering periods. Amanda, Amanda…he remembered her words.

"Let's go away, Kurt. Now. Together. Don't you want to be with me?"

His lips trembled and terrified tears tumbled down his cheeks. He had realized that something must have happened before the incident with the President and after his prayers in Canada, but not this. Not this soul wrenching, agonizing loss. Where, When, Why had she said these things? Why couldn't he remember? He clutched at his head. Why was he seeing these euphoric images of a time and place that didn't make sense nor were they remembered? 

_Will you untie this loss of mine_

_It so easily defines me_

_Do you see it on my face_

_That all I can think about is how long_

_I've been waiting to feel you move me_

"Kurt?" A voice alerted him to the doorway. He looked up in surprise and was met by an ethereal sight. Storm, with her dark luxurious skin and beautiful snowy white hair stood in a creamy nightdress. She looked visibly shaken.

"Ororo" he breathed in a voice that was broken and uneven. "I didn't mean to disturb you" He apologised as best he could although unable to disguise his volatile reaction to the mental barrage he had suffered. She crossed the room and hovered near his bed, unsure how to comfort him. He turned away, hand between his legs, nursing the painful and upsetting reaction his dream had created.

"Kurt, what happened?" She asked tenderly as she sat uneasily on the other side of the bed. Across from her, the wiry frame of the German teleporter heaved with his erratic breathing and a sheen of clean sweat glistened across his taught back. 

"A dream" Kurt whispered, rocking slightly, trying to calm his raging body.

"What sort of dream?" Ororo probed further. She worried about Kurt most of all her friends. He needed it most.

"I think…I think" he choked on a sob. "I think Stryker did something to me" 

"Kurt…you're scaring me" She said almost inaudibly. He twitched slightly in response; obviously his experience had been too much for him. "I think we should talk to the Professor about this" With slight hesitation, Ororo left him alone and went off to find the Professor. A frown of pity and fear creased her face and made her look older. Not Kurt, please not Kurt, she pleaded. Kurt was the only one who could keep her afloat, but she didn't know how to return the favour.

Kurt's form shook with the tears he couldn't let Storm see. The power of the frustration at not knowing where the images had come from was not as great as his utter desolation at having felt something so profound so intimate and it having not been real. How could he ever have believed, even from her own lips, that she loved him? Amanda was a creature of nature, so beautiful and so strong in character and so heart-achingly unreachable. Even in the trapeze she was never in his hands for long. It was all he asked, to be loved in return-- and Stryker…Stryker had taken that away from him. Forever. 

The shuddering form of the Nightcrawler felt the gentle probing of the Professor in his mind, and in the silvery moonlight waited for the truth. God, where are you?...

_Close my eyes and hold my heart_

_Cover me and make me something_

_Change this something normal_

_Into something beautiful_

_Into something beautiful_

****

_Into something beautiful…___

****

AN: okay that was chapter two. I want to clear something up…..::deep breath:: When Stryker used mind control on Kurt, he created via Jason a vision of Kurt and Amanda that involved their marriage and suggestion of sex. That's why I used that in this chapter. Let me say again in the vision KURT AND AMANDA WERE MARRIED. If you missed that then it will be part of the next chapter.


	3. Edge Of Water

_Prayer of St Francis _

__

_Chapter 3 – The Edge of Water_

__

_By Yamcha's Big Pants (YBP) aka Kirsty Graham.___

AN : Thank you for your reviews people. I really do appreciate all the time you spent in dedicating these comments and stuff, and I'm truly flattered, I just hope the story doesn't turn out to be a disappointment for you. I would also like to thank you for all the plot suggestions you have contributed; they've given me some great direction! Anyway to answer some questions…yes I am a Christian, Kurt's Christianity is something I always find endearing and awe-inspiring. I suppose I'm like Professor Xavier that way…hang on and I'll find the quote ::rummages around:: ah yes…

_"How do you do it Kurt? Here I am, staring at the Abyss, and I feel myself drowning…But you've lived your whole life at the edge of such darkness, facing hatred and fear simply because of your appearance…and yet in all the years since I first met you and brought you to join the X-Men, I've never known you to give in to despair or even a trace of bitterness. No one better embodies the spirit the X-men seek to inspire in ALL mutantkind."_

Nice eh? Secondly, I've been asked to supply addresses for Kurt sites…here are the best ones I've found for movie stuff…ahem… "BAMF CENTRAL" is a great all-round site and I would recommend it highly (). Also "In the Shadows" had loads of movie Kurt pictures and some non movie ones too. () and I if I find anymore I let you guys know. Anyway sorry for the rather racy portion of the last chapter, but I felt it was needed. This *IS* going to be a Kurt/Ororo fic, but we need a little angst first, no? (Sorry, I was channelling Gambit there for a sec!) I also want to appologise deeply for my terrible typos and grammatical mistakes. I'm just so gosh-darn lazy! Thank you for the offers of beta reading for me, but I can do it myself…I just wish I didn't have to in the first place ::pout:: I promise this chapter will be better! Oh and to answer Took Baggins' question, I got the prequel comic in Forbidden Planet my local comic book store. I live in Scotland so I don't if that would help anyone because there is only one Forbidden Planet in America, it's in New York, but you should be able to get a copy at any big newsagents or toyshop. Hope that helped. Anyway enjoy and please lemme know what you think :-D chaow! NOTE : Ororo, Kurt, DR Xavier and Logan don't belong to me they are Marvel and some other guys' property, also the Song "The Edge of Water" is another one by Jars of Clay (they're like my favourite band, can you tell?), it is not my song, I'm using both characters and song without permission and I'm making no gain so please don't sue me!
    
    _Have you ever been haunted  
    
    the way I've been by you?_
    
    _And have you ever felt _
    
    _The measure of the days that I've spent waiting_
    
    _Pining for you?_

Storm sat deflated and limp on the grand staircase, her cream nightdress folded beneath her knees. Her head rested against the mount of the banister and sad, tear-filled eyes stared at nothing. She should never have got involved. It was ridiculous. She was a goddess, a weather witch, a woman of enlightenment; she didn't need any man to make her feel whole. But she needed _him. After only a few weeks of having known him she had felt herself beginning to slide down that slippery and insurmountable slope of admiration; admiration which soon led to adoration and inevitably resulted in affection. Deep affection. She had to admit, Kurt Wagner was _not _the sort of man she had imagined spending the rest of her life with. He was blue, demonic and certainly not a male-model type. But then again we never choose who to fall in love with; and fallen in love she had. No…"fallen" was too brutal. She'd slid; slid down the slope she had refused to acknowledge. It was safer not to. Now she knew it had been safer to ignore any feelings she had towards men, especially men who loved someone else. She scrunched her eyes shut in pain. She knew she should be there for Kurt and comfort him through this turbulent time…but it hurt too much. It felt like she was trespassing in a world she had no place to be in. The world of Kurt's past was a painful one where she drowned in new understandings, in despair and grief and utter desolate longing, so much stronger than her own. _

That was why it hurt so much. It hurt to know that her longing for Kurt was swamped by his absolute want for this girl, Amanda. Ororo had never suspected that Kurt reciprocated her feelings for him, except that he had called her his soul-mate…however now…it was all too clear that he didn't; and it hurt. She hadn't had to _make_ herself have feelings like she had in the past with other men. Her heart had told her straight away that this was right. As odd as it looked she knew _straight away that this was where she wanted to be. Sobs escaped her throat in the very bleak darkness of the night-shrouded hallway. The rain pounded hard and fast on the windows around the house. No lightning, no thunder, just rain; just heavy, mournful, sad rain. Her mind began to replay the night's events to her once again._
    
    _I can't see the sun for the daylight_
    
    _I can't feel your breath for the wind_
    
    _I get so used to these shadows_
    
    _Are you coming back again?___

…………………..

Ororo knocked on the Professor's bedroom door. 

"Yes, what is it?" She heard softly and tiredly in her mind. Unable to reply in his fashion she whispered into the heavy oak of the door. 

"Professor, it's Kurt, you have to come quick. He had a dream…I think it must have been some sort of…repressed memory or something; please you have to come and help him." She listened intently to the silence hoping to hear some sort of indication that the Doctor was getting up. The door swung open slowly with telekinesis. Professor Xavier rolled out in his wheelchair, tired and worried looking.

"What exactly has happened Storm?" he asked as they travelled towards Kurt's room.

"I really don't know Professor, I heard him call out in his sleep. I think he disturbed some of the children." She noticed a few still wandering about the corridor in a daze, wondering where the unsettling wailing had emanated from. Rushing forward she shooed them off to bed, carrying the littlest to his room and tucking him in. Returning out to the hall she hurried in the darkness to where her instincts told her Kurt's room was. Dr Xavier sat outside, his eyes closed in concentration. 

"Professor?"

"Storm, I'll have to go in and talk to Kurt, this seems to be fairly serious. You may join us if you think it will help." Ororo nodded and followed him tentatively into the dark room. Any sign of Kurt had vanished in the gloom, his breathing having returned to its normal rate.

"Kurt, it's the Professor. Are you alright?" Charles said softly, sensitive to the ordeal his newest recruit had just suffered.  Two penetrating ochre orbs faced him suddenly.

"Yes, thank you Professor." His voice was hoarse and reserved through sorrow. "It was a dream; nothing more"

There was silence and Ororo hung back against the door. If Kurt didn't already know she was there, she didn't want him to know. Xavier turned and looked at her. "I'm sorry Ororo, but I believe I should speak to Kurt on my own." The Doctor could be very tactile. It was obvious through his empathic abilities that he knew Kurt didn't want her to hear what he had to say. Her dignity stinging slightly, Storm nodded and left the dark room. 

Sitting in an armchair across the hall, Ororo had drifted into a light sleep when she was disturbed by the opening and closing of a door. Peering into the darkness, she could see the Professor.

"What time is it Ororo?" The weather witch glanced at her watch; she could just make out the hands. 

"3.20 am, what happened?" The Doctor sighed, his voice heavy with fatigue and shared sorrow.

"Poor Kurt, his mind was highly charged"

"What was it you saw Professor?" She asked speaking in a whisper "What did Stryker do to him?"

She heard the wheelchair move closer to her. "It seems that Nightcrawler was another victim of Jason's mind-control, as was I" The terrible connotations became clear and evident in Storm's mind. "Stryker created a fantasy for Kurt via Jason."

"What sort of fantasy?" She dared to ask. What had been so haunting, so terrible that it had made him cry out in his sleep and had changed him from the confident, strong man she had known to the wreck she had encountered?

"Apparently, Kurt was and still is in love with a woman named Amanda. Stryker made him believe that Amanda reciprocated his feelings. He had even fabricated a wedding."  

A horrible agonising breath caught in Ororo's throat. "…He married her?" She choked out at last.
    
    _I've damned the emotions_
    
    _To keep my lanterns lit_
    
    _I'm shaken by this longing_
    
    _Coursing through my veins_
    
    _In my mind I can't make sense of it___

The Doctor nodded gravely "I'm afraid Kurt's subconscious opened up a part of the vision that was, indeed, rather sensitive" he moved closer, looking up into her eyes levelly. "I would be gentle with him Ororo, he witnessed very graphically an experience that his memory tells him took place, but his mind refuses to register; the first time he made love. He will be very fragile.

Storm nodded mutely. He married this girl? He had made love to her? Even although it was the fabrication created by a cruel man, it must have been what Kurt had always dreamed about…and he was still in love with her. All of a sudden Ororo felt very foolish; very bruised and very, very foolish. She stumbled for a hold on the chair and silently thanked Kurt's God that it was dark, lest the Professor see her cry. 

"I've sedated him, so we'll sort this out in the morning. Will you be alright now Ororo?" His quiet voice questioned her as he moved down the corridor to his room.

"Yes, thank you Professor" She lied and let up a shaky pent up breath as he left earshot. Kurt's God didn't like her it seemed. He hated her and he hated Kurt. She would have loved Kurt, given time, like no one else could have. But Kurt's God had made that difficult. He seemed to never want to let Kurt have happiness; he forsook him at every turn. Even from birth Kurt was destined to have a hard and unforgiving future. Why couldn't she have been the one to soothe him, to give him the love he so unconditionally deserved? Whoever Amanda was, it was clear she would break his heart. Ororo could never do that! Wandering, tears in her eyes, she found that she couldn't go back to her room for fear that she might suffocate on her own. So, shuffling as quickly as she could, she descended the stairway hurriedly, the pain making her fast, until she crumpled on the bottom step and cried silently into herself.
    
    _Do we give up the search _
    
    _and__ turn out the lights?_
    
    _And give up this Holy Ghost_
    
    _That rattles through the night?_

……………….

And there she had stayed, cocooned in her own little sphere of anger, pain and grief. A large hand trespassed on her shoulder. With a hiss she glared up into the eyes of the Wolverine.

"O?" He whispered harshly, his eyes ablaze with concern. She twisted out of his grasp and latched onto the banister support. He recoiled slightly. This was not the Ororo Munroe he had met. "What happened? Why aren't you in bed and why are you crying?" He asked quickly.

She whispered through a hiccup "Just leave me alone Logan" But he was a stubborn man.

He planted himself on the floor in front of her; an obstinate frown plastered his face. "What is this about Storm, I'm in no mood to piss about with you here. What happened?" He was demanding and vehement in his resolution. Her glare of bitterness and anger melted slowly into a look of despair and loneliness. His own features relented and he carefully opened his arms to let her fall into them. She did so gratefully, crying unashamedly.

"Oh Logan, I don't know what I'm doing" She moaned almost inaudibly. He petted her hair awkwardly.

"Ororo, what the hell happened?" His vest was becoming soaked in salty tears "Does this have anything to do with that Nightcrawler guy?" Logan ventured warily.

"Oh Logan! What am I going to do? Oh God! What am I going to do?"

_I can't see the sun for the daylight_

_I can't feel your breath for the wind_

_I get so used to these shadows_

_Will you chase away these shadows?_

_When you come back again_

AN: Ooooo angsty, angsty, angsty! Sorry to use cursive as in "piss" but saying "fool" or "mess" or even "lark" just isn't Logan is it? Anyway thanks for all your input into my story, this is like a dream realised to create such a popular story. I just hope I can satisfy you all. Till next time God bless!


	4. Shelter

_Prayer of St Francis _

__

_Chapter 4 – Shelter_

__

_By Yamcha's Big Pants (YBP) aka Kirsty Graham._

AN : Hey guys, this is amazing! Thank you so much for your reviews!! I'm so flattered and I'm really beginning to love writing this story. At your request I'll do my best not to prolong the angsty-ness too much, I know that can become old pretty quick, but you also have to appreciate the fact that Kurt has just remembered a rather traumatic experience. If you can get your hands on the prequel you will be able to understand just what it was like for the poor boy, I was almost crying! If you e-mail me I might be able to give you a full synopsis, perhaps some scans and the script of the comic….just don't tell the guys at marvel lol, they might not too happy about it. Lol I fully endorse buying the comic there's nothing like having it in your hands. Anyway…sorry about the links…they didn't come up when I uploaded…don't understand it…hmm ::scratches head::: Anyway if you want links please e-mail me and I'll send you a list of good movie Kurt ones and I'll see what I can find pertaining to Kurt and Ororo. Also yes there are a few Forbidden Planets down in England, but I have a link to the ordering website…please if you want to order the comic online (they might also ship abroad) e-mail me and I'll send you the link (oi this HTML format!) Anyway….I think I've pretty much covered everything…I hope the last chapter was grammatically sound, I checked over about three or four times so it should be okay. Lol I'm just sick of the sight of it now. Anyway Enjoy….::takes a deep breath:: once again…I don't own any of the characters mentioned herein, they belong to the guys at Marvel, so "me no own-y - you no sue-y" and the song "Shelter" belongs to Sarah McLachlan and is taken from her album "Solace"

_They're crowded into smallest spaces_

_Outside all of nature cries_

_It's known to be cruel and unfair_

_But there is no place to hide_

Kurt Wagner, star of the Munich Circus and elf of the darkest kind, The Nightcrawler, bent in submission, eyes clenched tightly shut. Today he asked his God not for repentance, but for solace…and for the first time in his life, answers. Never before had he questioned what he was or why he was here. God would have a reason for his existence…he _must_ have.  These ideas rolled around in his head, in a vicious ring of loose ends and unanswered queries. His dream still shook him as his mind wandered helplessly back to it. _Peachy vital flesh sailed so naturally beneath his mouth. The contours, delicious slopes and delectable curves had him reeling. Hot, lightly scented flesh brushed against his tongue. The echoes of the cries of love were loud in his ears. Kurt flinched from the image, his heart pounding with pain and guilty longing. His long hoof-like fingers clenched instinctively around the small cross held in his palm. Not knowing what had happened to him had kept his head above water; had given him a fresh beginning. But now this distressing situation had him questioning even his actions in the immediate future, never mind what he should or would do. How could he go on living in the same way after knowing that everything he had ever wanted had been so cruelly taken from him…or as Stryker had put it…?_

_"Discovering the most perfect moment in your life was all a mental fabrication would understandably be a little upsetting I imagine."_

And now Amanda was with Werner; the angel, the perfect human specimen: so handsome, so strong, and so normal. Kurt wouldn't ask why he wasn't like Werner. To do so he would ask of God the unspeakable. 

_Oh I've seen a part of people _

_That I never really want to share_

_Oh I've seen a part of people_

_That I never knew was there_

"Ororo!" Storm looked up from the papers scattered over her desk. The voice had originated from outside the window. A small boy peeped over the sill, disjointed from the throng of children enjoying a lunchtime game of basketball. She smiled at him before retreating back to her work.

"Andrew, you're not supposed to call your teachers by their first name." She reminded as she wrote. There was silence in which she assumed he had left her in peace to finish marking. 

"Jean let her class call her by her first name." He said very matter-of-factly, ignorant of the profound effect of the mention the DR's name had on the older residents of the institute. With that he hopped off towards the game behind him, having tired of annoying his teacher. Storm stared after him, the familiar heaviness encroaching on her heart. The warm sunlight which striped her desk became dull as the sky was becoming evermore overcast. Was she ever going to get over this? Was Jean's death forever to mar every happy moment in her life? Suffering caused suffering. Kurt was testament to that. The very thought of him sent both a cold sweat down her back and a raw agony in her heart. Thunder was heard to rumble overhead. He had helped so much over the past few weeks, but none of that mattered now that she understood the truth. He hadn't been in his room for three days, finding retreat and solace in the local church. But tomorrow was a Sunday and that meant a congregation. Kurt would never do anything to endanger anyone's faith let alone his. He would never let anyone see him in a church, lest they might never return. He wouldn't come between God and another of his children - be of the atom or not. Maybe he'd come back…come home. Maybe he would need her. Maybe…but not as much as she needed him. A swift knocking at her door aroused Ororo from her tumultuous thoughts. From beyond her window, she heard cries from the children as they abandoned their match and retreated from the bouncing rain. The clouds dissipated as quickly as they had appeared, and the children slunk out from the veranda they had hid beneath. A few pair of eyes strayed to the window of their teacher-stroke-weather-witch. 

"Come in" She called, gathering her wits again. The tall figure of Scott Summers darkened the doorway. It had been a long time since Scott had initiated any sort of conversation and Storm was intent on him. 

"Hello Ororo. I was wondering if you know where I might find Kurt" Ororo stood up, placing a marking text back onto the shelf.  

"Oh, Scott Kurt hasn't been back since Wednesday night." She paused "I assume the Professor told you about it?" The only indication of confusion came via a crinkle of two dark eyebrows.

"Why? What happened?"

"Well Kurt seems to have accidentally stumbled upon a memory of his time at Alkali Lake. Stryker used Jason's power on Kurt to make him attack the President" Ororo recalled conveying nothing of the emotions which had ripped through the mansion that night. 

Scott slouched slightly in the doorway. "You don't say?" It was plain to see his somewhat strained attempt to think of the whole incident independent of the heartbreak the event had caused. He didn't hide his emotions very well, even behind those glasses of his. 

"Yes…" Ororo trailed off, actually speaking the truth of the situation would be more painful than she felt energetic enough to handle right now. "Did you want to see him about something?" She asked, trying to take a different tack, as she sat on the edge of her desk. 

"Huh? Oh yeah…I wanted to…" Lifting his feet slightly he licked his lips contemplatively. His voice dropped a few decibels as he looked back at up at her. "I wanted to apologise for the way I spoke to him, and I'd like to take him up on his offer."

Storm hadn't realised how religious Scott was, or how much comfort there could be gained within a religion, having no defined one of her own. She smiled softly. "I'll tell him you would like to see him when he comes back. I'm putting my money on tomorrow. He's at the church…but I don't think he'll be in any fit state to console anyone right now."

"Was his mind control that bad?" Scott asked; his concern this time genuine.

"I think the more appropriate question would be, was it that good?" Scott frowned before nodding slowly. He almost understood what she meant, but he didn't feel the sharp pain of her heartache that pierced her so steadily. 

"Do you think he'd mind if I borrowed his bible?" Ororo got up from her perch, picking up her classroom keys and escorted Scott and herself outside the room.

"I don't see why he should. I'll go and get it for you if you like" She said glancing up at him as she locked the door. He smiled down at her.

"Thanks Storm, I'm going out for a drive with Rogue in a little while, so I won't be back until dinner time. Thank Kurt for me" He gave her shoulder a gentle squeeze before sauntering off down the corridor, hands in his pockets. Ororo watched him wistfully. It was a long and rocky path to recovering from grief like his, but Scott was making excellent progress. She wondered what a shrink would say about her own recovery.__

_Shelter – give them shelter from the coming storm_

_Shelter – give them shelter from the coming storm_

Ororo pushed the door ajar slightly, scanning the room for the familiar hunched figure of the Nightcrawler. When she saw that he was still absent she entered, closing the door behind her. His room was plain, unlike her own. Her room was bright and fresh with plants lining the surfaces. Relics from her heritage hung on the walls giving the room an exotic air and beautiful smells of native perfumes scented everything she wore and possessed. Kurt's room was impersonal, nothing fixed, nothing settled. She supposed this was due to his nature as a gypsy; forever on the move, nowhere to settle and transient by definition. There was a light smell of the musk that was characteristic of his body, just as with any man. Storm dreaded to think what Logan's room smelt like. That man had more hormones, animal and human running around his body than he could probably pronounce. A small ethnic shawl was draped over his neatly made bed, besides which a few books were piled on his bedside cabinet. A chair beside the bed acted as a clothes horse upon which a line was tied and joined it to the window frame. Kurt had hung several articles of clothing on the "washing" line. She smiled at the cold dead fireplace they had sat at only the week before. Creeping over to his bed, she seated herself on its edge and sorted her way through his pile of books, until she found a battered old bible. It was well loved in appearance and smelt pleasantly of coffee. Flicking through the tissue-thin pages she noticed all the scribbled notes adorning the blank edges. His writing was looped and very calligraphic in appearance, but she could make out some of the words. 

"_5:10__ – his love is boundless and faceless…6:2 – sin is forgiven"_

She frowned lightly, but came across a page more dog-eared than the rest and began to read. The more she read of this international but alien text the more enthralled, enraged, emphatic and seduced by it she became. Her fingers traced the lines as her eyes steamed ahead eagerly. She almost didn't hear the soft rush and popping of air nearby but looked up reluctantly to be faced with a rather unsettling sight. Nightcrawler had BAMFed onto the end of the bed and looked at her startled for a moment before his face crinkled in hurt.

_I can't sleep I'm haunted by their faces_

_The sadness in their eyes_

_It hurts so much to see them helpless_

_It makes me want to cry_

_But there is so much left unanswered_

_For so many innocent lives_

_They close the doors and are letting nobody in_

_And only strong will survive_

"Ororo?" He breathed. "Vhy are you here?" His tone sounded wounded, invaded and slightly panicked. "Vhy are you in my room?" His voice rose frighteningly. 

Ororo stood up quickly, becoming more and more uneasy and somewhat scared of his reaction. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have, but Scott wanted to borrow-"

He cut her off sharply "I don't vant anyone coming into my room!" The sharp intonation of his German accent alarmed the Weather-witch further. Kurt snatched the bible from where she had dropped it on the bed spread, then teleported over to the window-ledge far away from her. Wounded and embarrassed she stood wavering for a moment, strained and raw inside from his stinging rejections and reproachful recrimination. Then when she felt she could contain her emotions no longer, she sprinted from the room, leaving him to curl into his own dark loneliness. The room was suddenly over bearing and accusing. He was bitter and angry and…and…he sighed heavily, guiltily; she didn't deserve that. His golden eyes looked up sorrowfully at the window as small sharp bullets of rain fell from the charcoal grey sky. He shouldn't have been so harsh, so nasty, so brutish. Maybe he felt invaded on the outside as well as the inside, but whatever Ororo's reasons…that was uncalled for. Sighing sadly he waited for the rain to stop before finding her. Closing his eyes he prayed quietly for forgiveness for forsaking his friend.

_Shelter – give them shelter from the coming storm_

_Shelter – give them shelter from the coming storm_

Ororo walked carefully down the stairs, trying with all her might to keep her face impassive should the children see her upset and be once again shaken from their normalcy. Treading carefully down a corridor, she groaned inwardly when she spotted Logan leaning on a window-ledge scrutinising the increasingly heavy rain. She just wanted to get to her room so she could lick her wounds in private. But then again being a weather-witch who didn't have full control of her emotions or powers, your feelings were never all that private to those who could read the meteorological signs. Dipping her head she gritted herself as she passed the Wolverine.

"Weird weather we're having huh?" He asked lowly, exposing to the whole world his blatant hidden meaning. Ororo chose to be ignorant of it.

"Hmm" She agreed not trusting her voice to say anything more. 

"Come on "O" other people might be willing to let you get on with it yourself, but I ain't. Why this fancy display of amazing weather swings? More like mood swings to me" He spoke as much to himself as to the white haired woman in front of him. She didn't dare to turn and face him. "Ororo." His tone was demanding.

"I thought wolverines weren't pack animals" She cursed her wavering voice "Why all of this sudden concern for people Logan?" She heard him stride up to her as she walked away.

"Since I found myself a pack. I hate to admit it, but I don't have anything else in the world but this place." Ororo stopped her march and leant heavily against the wall.

"Ever heard of PMT, you didn't think it might be that?" Ororo could almost hear the smirk crack on his handsome face. 

"I'm the king of mood swings darlin', you can't pretend to me. Jean taught me things about myself that I didn't know were in me. Why should I pretend I don't care anymore? So come on Storm…" She felt her shoulders droop with unburdened tension. 

"It's Kurt" She managed to choke and wandered off to her room, giving him the signal that she wanted no more discussion on the subject.

The Wolverine stood staring after her for a moment. The exhausted and ungainly slouch of her usually graceful and shapely body concerned him. He shifted on his feet. Wolverine, the wanderer, the wild and untameable man with a metal skeleton had found somewhere to lay his head-permanently. This family he had adopted and sworn to protect was threatened to be split by so many things and this new blue mutant was not going to be one of them. He'd lost Jean to a world to which he could not follow and he wasn't going to do the same with Ororo. 

_I've seen the anger and I've all the dreams_

_Watched their existence torn part at seams_

_Though I may seem helpless _

_I will do all that I can do_

Kurt drew himself wearily off his knees and noticed to his distress that the weather outside had worsened considerably. With a crash his door swung open noisily, making him jump as he fought the instinct to teleport. A slightly ticked off Wolverine stood glaring in the threshold.

"Ah, Gutentag Logan" He greeted nervously. The Wolverine had had nothing to do with him except the occasional word in passing since they had met. This intense intrusion on his territory looked to be one with a purpose. 

"See that rain out there?" The fierce quiet of Logan's voice was unnerving as he made no other movement but a nod of his head towards the window. Kurt was compelled to glance at the storm threatening to break outside his window. "You caused that" There was rich frothy hatred blaringly obvious in his tone. At least his claws weren't out! Kurt dropped his head slightly.

"I know" He said lowly. With a gasp he felt himself being roughly suspended in the air. Logan held him aloft by his collar. Narrowed hazel eyes locked his. His breath was musky with cigar smoke.

"You know what else? I don't like the rain, Bub" Kurt gulped. Wolverine wouldn't kill him for something like this…would he? "So why don't you teleport your tight little blue ass down to her room and apologise, before **_I _have something to apologise for!" Kurt was out of Logan's grip before he had even realised the impact of the threat. In a flash of light and air, he found himself standing in a cloud of the familiar black spray before a brown oaken door. He could the sound of sobs emanating from within. It broke his heart over and over to hear someone so upright and strong like Storm cry. But to think that he was the cause of her tears tore him up inside. Mustering his courage and praying for the help of the spirit, he gravely tapped two bent fingers against the panel of the door.**

_Oh I've seen a part of people _

_That I ever really wanted to share_

_Oh I've seen a part of people_

_That I never knew was there_


	5. The Dream Must Stay Alive

_Prayer of St Francis _

__

_Chapter 5 – The Dream Must Stay Alive_

__

_By Yamcha's Big Pants (YBP) aka Kirsty Graham.___

AN : Thank you people! Over 100 reviews I've never had before! Thank you for making that possible! Especially all you frequent viewers who have been such an encouragement. I'm really enjoying writing this and I have some good ideas for the next few chapters, so keep posted! Okay now down to answering some questions. Okay someone mentioned about the "PMT" thing. Well here's your answer. PMT and PMS are exactly the same thing, PMT is Post Menstrual Tension and PMS is Post Menstrual Stress. Tension and Stress are kinda the same thing. Us in Scotland tend to say PMT more often lol that's all. Thanks for bringing that up Shian. I was also asked about Storm. Let me clear a few things up here about Storm's religion. Yes Storm in the X-Men Universe has a faith. She believes in some African Cult (I don't mean to be ignorant, I just don't know that much about it) in which she worships the Goddess. However from watching X2, I got the impression that Halle Berry's incarnation of the Weather witch, was in fact, ignorant of religion. I mean in the Blackbird, (when they have the anger-versus-faith-for survival talk) she seems to be very confused about Kurt, he's a mystery. She can't understand how he can be so wrapped up in his faith. Or at least that's the way it seems to me. Now someone who is religious themselves wouldn't tend to be quite so mystified. Besides, is it just me or does Comic/cartoon Storm seem older and more kinda self-contained and level-headed than Movie Storm? I think cartoon/comic Storm would have handled Kurt differently. Movie Storm is more human I think, more fragile and more….umm I dunno….American? Okay I've probably offended about half the world's population there. I'm sorry lol. I think I've covered everything. Remember if you're looking for anything and you want to ask me about it, please don't hesitate to e-mail me. Okay here goes! Enjoy!

_Look into the future   
What do you see   
I really need to know now   
Is there a place for me   
And tell me, where do we go from here___

His voice lingered in the air as his question penetrated the room. A tense silence descended upon the apparent emptiness and Kurt felt himself uncomfortable in his clothes. With a soft click, he heard the door in front open from the inside and realised her proximity through the thick oak. Only a week before she had been the one in his place, stepping into a world she knew nothing about to comfort and cajole. However his reason for being here was less pure than hers. An apology hung on his blue lips, waiting to find her and the best moment before making itself audible. Two fingers and a thumb clasped the round knob of the door and turned, opening it with a creak. The scent of foliage; green and fresh, gently bombarded his senses. In a moment, he stood as a dark outline against a pale lemon room which looked more like a botany lab. Plants of all shapes and sizes hung from carriers suspended from the ceiling, or lined flat surfaces and table tops. One wall of the room consisted of a series of long, tall windows, creating an effective green house. Kurt gaped at the beauty of nature that surrounded him, so different from his simple contained room. The slender figure that had so consumed Kurt's conscience stood with her back to him. A window, opened in front her, provided a portal for her powers. Raising her hand above the green and white leaves of a spider plant, a drizzle of rain swept in through the window and watered the thirsty plant. She moved efficiently but not hurriedly, obviously avoiding him. Kurt opened his mouth to speak but thought differently and closed it again, frowning deeply at the air in front of him. After a moment's thought he closed his eyes and waited for the spirit to speak through him.

"I had vondered vhy she told me at the time." His voice was quiet and full of reserved emotion, startling Ororo with its calmness and introvert tone. "I guess I never really believed that she loved me…it vas impossible. No matter how much I wished for it, it just…vasn't…real. It vas a dream, a marvellous dream." Storm couldn't explain why, but her throat became tight and her soul twisted in agony. Kurt dropped his hands when he saw her composure unchanged. 

"When Norris, one of Stryker's henchmen, told me-the truth; it hurt and I lost all will to live." Kurt shifted his feet ever so slightly, the memory of the bitter Texan accent sending chills down his spine. "I forgot my real reason to be on this earth. I forgot that God loved me and that he had died for me." Golden eyes wandered helplessly to the seemingly cold woman in front of him. "I forgot that today as vell. I forgot that my reason for being alive vas not to bring glory to myself but to God. I forgot that I had friends and…I forgot who I vas."

_Take me as you find me   
For what I am   
And when I make mistakes   
Please understand   
And as long as I know you're near   
There is nothing for me to fear___

Storm stood stiffly. She knew his apology was deep and heartfelt, but felt too ashamed of herself to turn and look at him lest he should see right into her heart. Those ochre eyes were penetrating and seemed to be able to scour her very soul every time they rested upon her. If he could see what her heart was telling her right now…well, she didn't know how he'd react. 

"Ororo…" He paused. She might not forgive him. She might decide that his problems were too much for her to handle. She might let him down gently and avoid him from now on. She was his dearest friend and if he lost her…well, he didn't know how he'd react.

"Ororo. Vhat I'm trying to say is, I'm sorry" Kurt looked up timidly through his sweeping dark eyelashes for some sign of forgiveness; for some indication that she'd heard him. Instead he saw two slender shoulders tremble softly, unable to hide her pain anymore. "Ororo" His face crinkled in confusion, guilt and utter sympathy. 

"Ororo" Her name breathed again in such a quiet sad and understanding way made the tears flow quicker. This was so stupid, so unlike her. Ororo never cried. If she could just figure out what made her love Kurt so much; so hard, then maybe she could get over it; maybe she could just be his friend. With a small gasp she felt the warm pads of his fingers on her wrist as it hung dejectedly at her side. He twisted her around slowly; applying gentle force against her opposition. The face he saw alarmed him. Ororo's skin was so pale and lacked the beautiful ethereal glow he'd found so bewilderingly attractive. Her lips quivered slightly trying their hardest to ignore the sobs that threatened from her throat. She avoided looking at him, knowing she had been found out.

"Oh, Ororo" His heart swelled with pity and he pulled her gently into his chest. Wrapping his arms around her shoulders he held her to him. Ororo's walls burst letting her find comfort in the embrace, so close against him. Her arms constricted around his ribcage, holding him as he placed his cheek against her hair. 

"I'm sorry mein freund. I should never have treated you as I did. If I…if I could just take back was said and done, then I would." He nuzzled his cheek against hers. Ororo smiled through her tears and felt for the first time in her life…safe. She had become used to this feeling of edginess that came with her position at the institute. Being a mutant meant never being secure; being hounded and treated as though you were something to be feared; no one had ever held her and rocked her and been so warm and real to her ever before. 

Kurt lowered his head and whispered comfortingly into her ear, feeling that he was holding something very precious in his arms. "I vill alvays be here for you Storm. Alvays. I'll never leave you, none of us should be alone in this vorld. I'll alvays be your friend" She gripped his shirt tighter and the warm secure feeling became so hot and encompassing that she buried her head further, unable to thank him for the friendship and familiarity he so unquestioningly gave. 

Releasing her shapely form from his arms, he smiled timidly at her. "I hope you're not still angry vith me" There was a playful lilt in his quiet voice that made her chuckle a little. 

"No" She said quietly a small genuine smile lifting the sides of her mouth and lighting her eyes.

"That's better," he grinned, and slowly turned his attention to the room around him. "I didn't realise you like plants so much" At that they fell into an easy if not a little strained conversation about her botany skills. All the while Storm felt happy and at peace. Kurt didn't love her, she knew that but it didn't hurt as much as it had. However, she was his friend, and he said he would never leave her. His attention was on her now. Someone was there to look after her and care about her and be there for her; no matter what the dark future held for them both. Ororo smiled at the thought. 

_Out of the darkness   
A light shines   
Burning through the coldest night   
And we can find our way (Together we'll make it)   
With every step we take (Moving closer together)   
If we're gonna survive   
The dream must stay alive___

The rest of the summer came and went; hot and without a thunderstorm or undue rain-cloud in the sky. Grief had finally begun to lift its dark shroud from the institute and a calm and happy autumn was beginning with a new semester. Kurt had always loved autumn; it was his favourite season. The leaves turned such beautiful arrangements of gold, orange and red-each tree creating its own statement against the steely grey sky. There was always a burnt quality to the air which just seemed to deepen the experience further for Kurt. And besides the next season would be Christmas time and that would be an interesting experience in the Xavier Institute. Kurt shivered involuntarily at the cool chill around him. Ducking his head he focused his attention back on the yellowing pages of his bible. He perched on a low-hanging branch of one of horse-chestnut trees. He knew that in a little while he would have to find a different spot as the site would be infected with young mutants following the age-old tradition of "conker* felling". Kurt didn't fancy the idea of being whacked with stones, never mind all the unruly shouting and noise that would go on. But for now all was quiet save the gentle rustle of an autumn breeze in the tall elm trees. Kurt flicked over another page in his bible. Drawing up his shoulders around his neck he felt the soft weave of his new red scarf against his neck and smiled. Ororo had bought him the scarf with warning that it was going to be a cold winter. It warmed his cheek but warmed his heart most of all. As he thought of her, other pleasant feelings brewed within him. Since he had been taking a small informal service everyday Sunday morning, she had always been there; sitting with gentle patience even although his words didn't always reach her, she sat and listened anyway. His numbers had swiftly grown and he subsequently became something of an agony uncle for the children in their moral matters. Kurt had pondered aloud to Ororo that this might be his calling. He wondered if God meant him to be a priest for mutants; someone who could conduct services for those who couldn't attend a regular church because of their mutation. The idea had silenced her slightly and her reaction worried him. She protested gently that it meant he couldn't get married; he couldn't have romantic relationships with women. Kurt knew this of course, but it didn't seem like such a torturous sacrifice ever since his distasteful experience had put him off romance. But at that moment, seeing Storm look at him so, it sudden became harder to *want* to give it up. Since that conversation Storm had done all in her power to try and persuade him to drop the idea. Coming up against such opposition, Kurt was not only confused about God's will on the subject but Ororo's reasons.

Kurt finally found the scripture he had been looking for and read through squinted eyes. 

_It is__ good for a man not to touch a woman. **2**Nevertheless, because of sexual immorality, let each man have his own wife, and let each woman have her own husband. **3**Let the husband render to his wife the affection due her, and likewise also the wife to her husband. **4**The wife does not have authority over her own body, but the husband does. And likewise the husband does not have authority over his own body, but the wife does. **5**Do not deprive one another except with consent for a time, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer; and come together again so that Satan does not tempt you because of your lack of self-control. **6**But I say this as a concession, not as a commandment. **7**For I wish that all men were even as I myself. But each one has his own gift from God, one in this manner and another in that. _

With a sigh he left the page open and frowned. No matter how many times he read the Corinthians verse, he never reached a conclusion. Prayer hadn't helped much either. His heart was divided. Was it because at one point marriage had been an accomplishment for him? Or maybe because the incident had put the impossible hope in his heart; that someone could bring themselves to love him.

_Baby, will you hold me,_

_when I'm afraid   
See me through the danger, 'til the break of day   
If there's love, there's a chance for me   
Just believe in yourself, you'll see   
  
_

Ororo scanned the gardens for her subject. A smile crept onto her lips when she spotted a long dark tail swinging gently back and forth like a lazy pendulum. With quiet steps, she avoided crushing the carpet of leaves and stole up behind the tail. Glancing up she saw the blue talon-like toes gripping a sturdy branch as their owner was obvious absorbed in something. With playful mischief she lightly began to stroke the small ridges on his tail; gently so as not to give away her presence. She wanted to see how long it would take Kurt to notice her. After a few moments he pulled his tail up and curled around his leg, obviously unaware of the cause of the disturbance. Ororo withheld a chuckle and took another tack. Her eyes clouded over slightly with warning that some feat of weather manipulation was about to occur. A playful breeze toyed with the pages of Kurt's bible. He placed a finger down to anchor the page in place, but the breeze persisted and began to ruffle his dark curls lightly. It nipped at his nose and ears and he ducked his face further into the scarf. In a moment the breeze had become a stiff wind, threatening to throw him from the branch. He closed his bible with a snap and his tail curled automatically around the branch supporting him. Suddenly the bewildering wind died down to stillness again. Kurt sat up and looked around him at the strange phenomenon. A bright laugh from behind him, relaxed his face.

"Yes, yes very funny Ororo. Next time you might try striking the tree vith lightning?" he said with mock annoyance as he hopped with acrobatic skill to the ground.

"Sorry Kurt, I just couldn't resist." She took his arm as they walked back to the main building. "Let's go in, it's chilly out here," She chuckled with bitter birth "The kids will be disturbing the calm soon. They leave tonight for a week's break before the new semester begins."

"Ah, so we adults have the house to ourselves for a change?" Storm nodded. "That vill be nice, especially now that Logan and Scott seem to be getting on much better"

Storm breathed in the cold air and sighed. "Yes, if only Jean were here though. It's Scott and Jean's anniversary in a week and I don't know how he'll take it. He might need you again Kurt." The blue man dipped his head sadly.

"I'm afraid that might be so. But I don't mind." There was a friendly silence. "Vith the children gone, should I still carry out this veek's service?" Ororo pulled his arm slightly closer and smiled.

"Yeah Kurt, I'll even try and persuade Logan to come along. Lord knows that man needs a little religion in his life." Kurt grinned showing his pointed teeth slightly at Ororo's joke.__

  
_Out of the darkness   
A light shines   
Burning through the coldest night   
And we can find our way (Together we'll make it)   
With every step we take (Moving closer together)   
If we're gonna survive   
The dream must stay alive   
  
_

"Oh, that reminds me!" Ororo stopped and took both of Kurt's hands. "The professor asked me to ask you…"

Kurt laughed aloud, his breath making large puffs of steam in the air. "Does the professor never want to talk to me? He always seems to get you to tell me, or ask me things," Storm smile haughtily.

"It's only because you can't refuse me, I'm irresistible to you Gabriel." Kurt smiled at the endearment. She often called him the name of the heavenly host; such a stark comparison to the demonic creature his exterior proclaimed. 

"Very vell, vhat is it the Professor vants me to do?" He sighed dramatically, as though he would do whatever favour grudgingly. 

"Kurt, the professor wants to know if you'd like to take a teaching position here at the school."

The teleporters tawny eyes widened in surprise. "Really? He wants me to teach here?" A bright smile lit his face. Ororo smiled enthusiastically and nodded. "Oh vow! Vhat am I to teach?" He gripped her hands, ignorant of the melting effect the gesture had on his partner. 

"Well that's really up to you, but the professor has always been keen on introducing languages into the curriculum. You never told me you spoke five! Anyway that and if you liked, another subject."

Kurt threw his arms around her spinning her until he stopped laughing. Ororo clung to him for dear life before he let her go. Chuckling they stood regaining their senses. Ororo smiled at his joy. Maybe he wouldn't leave her now. Maybe he could do whatever work he thought his God wanted him to do, right here in the institute. He let her go.

"Excuse me Ororo, I must go and give the Professor my answer" With a cloud of dark blue vapour he disappeared to see the professor.

Hugging herself in the chill air, Ororo felt the warm fuzzy feeling he brought with him gradually ebb. Why couldn't she feel that all the time? Why couldn't she be the one? Why did she have to spend her life pinning like this? It looked however as though the horizon was brightening. Kurt would stay here at the Institute and life would go on. Stability would be established. And all would be right with the world…at least for a little while longer.                                   

  
  
_And as long as I know you're near   
There is nothing for me to fear   
  
Out of the darkness   
A light shines   
Burning through the coldest night   
And we can find our way (Together we'll make it)   
With every step we take (Moving closer together) _

_If we're gonna survive   
The dream must stay alive_

AN: Okay I hope you guys liked that. Hopefully I'll have the next chapter soon. Just to clear one thing up. 

*I don't know what they are called outside of Britain, even Scotland at that, but here Chestnuts get called "Conkers" when they fall from the tree. It's a piece of children's slang that I thought would be quite cute in there, and since I wasn't clear I just used our saying. Anyway I hope that cleared that up._  
  
_


	6. No Good for Me

**_Prayer of St Francis_**

**__**

**_Chapter 6 – No Good For Me_**

**__**

**_By Yamcha's Big Pants aka Kirsty Graham_**

AN: Hey guys can I thank you once more for all the reviews so far. I wanna clear something up before I get my brains reviewed to hell and back. I had typed that PMS and PTM were "post" they're actually "Pre - menstrual" sorry about that, I'm a real idiot sometimes. Next I want to make a statement about something that I read frequently in Kurt/Ororo fics. People try to characterize Kurt in his faith way too heavily. Nowhere in the bible does it say it's wrong for two people to kiss before they are married or to kiss even before they decided to form a relationship, I'm tired of people writing about Kurt casting away Storm and his feelings towards her as lust and sin. Sure if they act improperly to one another or if Kurt lets his imagination run away sure, but people need to get a clue and stop being so over…judging of the Catholic/Christian faith. Also Grand Theft Author Otaku asked about the song in the last chapter. Sorry I forgot to put the proper credits to it. It was "The Dream Must Stay Alive" sung by Meryl Cassie and is featured as the ending theme for the Australian soap "The Tribe". Oh and also Shian, I wrote "pinning" because I meant that they're eyes were pinned together…thanks for pointing that out though…so it was pinning not pining.  Anyway. I haven't had many questions and stuff so I assume that everyone's happy? EXCEPT for the romance factor. So you love bunnies are all desperate for some fluff? Well, wish granted! Just don't over do it and hurt yourself ^_~ enjoy.  The lyrics in chapter 6 are from the song "No Good for me" by the Corrs. The song doesn't belong to me and I'm making no money from using it. Neither do any of the characters featured henceforth as they are property of Marvel. I use it all without permission and don't make a profit. So don't sue! PS **General pepper, please e-mail me! I'll get those links to you as soon as I can if you can e-mail me.**

**I see a home **

**In a quiet place**

**I see myself **

**In a strong embrace**

**I feel protection **

**From the human race**

**It's not parental**

Logan stood watching as the coach pulled down the wet driveway. Miscellaneous arms and hands waved frantically and enthusiastically at every darkened window as the children bid farewell to their poor instructors who had to remain at the institute for the next two weeks. As soon as the vehicle vanished past the trees, the Wolverine leant off the doorway turn turned to face his two companions in the threshold. Storm still waved, missing the children already and Scott calmly observed him…or not. It was hard to tell. 

"Well," Scott said "Now that the kids are away, I suppose we have free run of the house, huh?"

Logan smirked. "Yeah I guess so. Where's the liquor cabinet?" In half jest he sauntered off down the corridor. Scot sniggered slightly at the remark. Although they shared an antagonistic relationship there were times when their respective personalities criss-crossed. Scott turned back to Storm and put an arm around her. She looked up a little startled into his eyes. He simply smiled down at her.

"I think Jean would have wanted Logan and I to be getting along" Scott stated quietly, a sad smile quivering on his lips. 

Ororo patted his hand gently. "I know she would have."

"Scott, Ororo, I'd like to see you both in my office" The professor's voice penetrated both their minds and a companionable silence fell upon them as they travelled down the corridor. 

Kurt looked up as the door opened and felt his heart beat that little bit faster. In trooped the three other instructors at the school; Ororo, Logan – who had decided to take a class on survival training, and Scott who had taken Jean's post as tutor at the school. But his gaze lingered on the female teacher as she smiled encouragingly. 

"Hello everyone. I have called you all to my office for a reason. Mr Wagner here has decided to take a teaching position here at the school." 

Scott leaned forward and the shook the blue mutant's hand with a grin. "Good to have you on board Kurt" Wolverine gave him a lopsided smile and raised a glass of champagne he had picked up from the Professor's desk. 

Leaning over and picking up her own, Storm raised her eyes. "So what, besides languages, did you decide to teach Kurt?" 

Kurt beamed brightly, his tail curling around a champagne flute and passing it to his outstretched palm. Scott turned and smiled at Logan, looking for an instant like two young boys amazed by a magician's trick. "I'm going to be teaching Religious Studies"

Storm's face seemed to open up like a flower. "So…this means you're not…" 

Kurt's eyes softened as he gazed down at his friend "…Yes…I'm not going to join the priesthood" The look that came over Ororo's face confounded but delighted him in some strange way. Maybe she just wanted to see him settled down and in love…but something told him it was more than that. She smiled and clinked glasses with him. 

Logan looked on and nudged his new "playmate". "Hey shades, is it just me, or are we missin' something here?" Scott turned and a knowing smile crept over his features at the intimate sight before him. 

"No, Logan," he said turning back, "But I think Mr Wagner might be" The two shared a meaningful smile and slid out of the room. 

"Oh, someone's at the door. Please excuse me everyone" The Professor wheeled himself out of the room and as he reached the door, the doorbell went. 

Kurt spotted them leaving over Ororo's shoulder and smiled. Confused she followed his gaze. "Oh, where are they going?" She felt Kurt's hand descend upon her shoulder. 

"I hear there is a very good film on tonight. Vould you like to vatch it? Seeing as ve have the television to ourselves, thanks that Blinky is on vacation." Kurt smiled down at her. His habit of crouching and curling into himself as he stood had disappeared just as his nervousness around the other mutants had. He now stood almost a foot taller than his female companion and matched with Scott. 

Kurt put his flute down. "I'll go and get some snacks; I'll be in the lounge in a moment." In a cloud of black vapour he was gone. Storm sighed a little, feeling the effects of Mr Wagner's presence disintegrating. She never really realised the change in her heart-rate, the lightness of her head, or the butterflies in her stomach until they began to leave her. She never understood what it was about him that caused her reaction either. 

Wandering down the corridor, Ororo heard voices coming from the reception hall. Sticking her head around the door, she saw a young man dressed in a trench-coat. He wore a bandana around his forehead, pushing his dark brown hair away from the most startling eyes she had ever seen; red on black. He had a confident pose about him as those unusual eyes darted subtly but sharply around the finely furbished house. The professor was looking at some piece of paper in his hand. The young man caught sight of the snowy haired woman in the doorway and his eyebrows lifted his face into a seductive smirk; or what would have been seductive if she hadn't been old enough to be a very young mother to him. He must only be about Bobby's age, and she was at least fifteen years older than that. She walked out into the room and placed a hand on the professor's shoulder. Her eyes never left the strange young mutant and an uneasy feeling crept throughout her body. The automated lights clicked on and lit the darkening room. The boy seemed to jerk as if always on edge, but quickly recovered.

**But it's a fantasy**

**Not a reality**

**And it no good for me**

**But you have no idea**

 "Oh Hello Ororo, I'd like you to meet Mr LeBeau here. He'll be joining us for a little while. A friend of mine referred him from a juvenile detention centre." The professor turned back to the young man with a kind smile. "But we'll put that behind us here Mr LeBeau. My school is about new beginnings and introductions. Speaking of which, this is Miss Ororo Munroe. She is a teacher at the Institute."

Ororo extended her hand and the young man took it, raising it to his lips. His eyes never left her as he lightly pecked it. Ororo raised an eyebrow. Just what they needed; a playboy! "I hope you'll be quite comfortable here at the school Mr LeBeau…"

"Please, call me Remy mademoiselle."  Ororo felt herself squirm at his flirty manner. However the familiar sound, like a bag behind blown inside out caught her attention and drew her eyes to the doorway of the lounge.

"Ah, Mr Wagner, would you mind staying where you are for a moment?" The professor called to the doorway. "We have a new student I'd like to introduce; Remy LeBeau" Ororo could faintly see the drop of Kurt's posture as he hid in the shadows, his nervousness returning at the prospect of meeting another pair of judging eyes. Her heart swelled with pity. This always had to be the routine when a new student came. Kurt would be the last to be introduced and very slowly and carefully at that. Ororo wanted so much to reach out and lead him into the room, proudly and without guilt or fear. Maybe one day that would be possible.

"Remy, I must warn you before you see Mr Wagner. His mutation is unfortunate, so don't be alarmed at his appearance, he really is one of the most approachable people **at the institute." The professor turned to face the doorway. "You can come in now Kurt."**

The hunched figure of the Nightcrawler slunk out from the shadows, raising his eyes slowly. The Cajun teenager showed his shock only through another rise of those expressive eyebrows. "Hello Mr LeBeau. My name is Kurt," he said timidly, "I am also new to the school. I vill be beginning my new task as teacher here soon and I look forvard to tutoring you" Kurt kept his eyes low, obviously nervous and embarrassed. 

"Uh…yeah…me too Mr Wagner" The young man mumbled looking anywhere but at Nightcrawler's face. Ororo stepped forward and took Kurt's arm. The German mutant looked startled, but regained some of his former posture.

"Nice to meet you Mr LeBeau, but you'll have to excuse Mr Wagner and myself" With that she turned and led the bewildered Nightcrawler into the lounge. "Now what was that you were saying about a movie?" She asked in a whisper, clutching his arm close to her.

**That I'm walking through the clouds**

**When you're looking at me**

**I'm feeling like a child**

**Vulnerability**

**I am shaken like a leaf**

**If you move beside me**

**And you're all that I see**

**But it's no good for me**

Kurt smiled as he looked down at Ororo dozing lightly, resting her head on his shoulder. Maneuvering her gently, he flicked the television screen off and stood, stretching out his cramped back. He hadn't watched much of the movie. His best friend's proximity had assured that. The constant heat of her arm as it sat against his had made him hypersensitive to everything she did. He had never had that sort of relationship with anyone, never mind a woman. And what a woman Ororo was. She was beautiful, serene, wise and above all the most wonderful person he had ever met. He turned back and gazed at her sleeping peacefully on the couch, admiring the way her white hair splayed out over the seat of the couch; her long dark eyelashes making velvety curtains against her skin. As though sent to interrupt him constantly, Logan appeared in the doorway.

"Hey Elf, there's mail for you here" Upon noticing the sleeping form of Storm on the sofa, in the dark, he raised a startled eyebrow at the saintly Wagner, who looked very confused indeed. "Uh yeah…here" Logan passed it to him. His eyes flickered between the two of them as he drank from a newly uncovered bottle of Holstein Pills. His keen sense of smell had uncovered a whole crate stashed conveniently beneath Peter's bed. The guy might have metal skin whenever he wanted it, but Wolverine was an expert at blackmail. "So who's it from?" he asked, for the first time really taking an interest in anything the German mutant had to do. 

Kurt ran a finger along the folded edge of the letter, tearing it open as he did so. He didn't recognize the stamp; it had been sent from Mississippi. Unfolding the piece of lined paper within, with his oddly shaped hands, he revealed a page of handwritten screed. The style was very familiar

Ororo opened her eyes slightly as she felt a shiver of night creep along her. Jerking her head up she realized where she was, and then with similarly delayed reaction, began to wonder where Kurt was. Looking up she spotted two figures in the hall and heard their whispered speech. One was definitely Kurt, and from the beer bottle being sloshed around, Ororo guessed the other was Wolverine. Sitting up she listened to the exchange. 

"…It's from Amanda…"

"Who's Amanda?"

"She…she vas a girl I lived vith…in the circus…"

"Oh?...Oh…is she uh…"

"…yes, she is the one the professor told you about Logan, it's alright though."

"What's she say?" 

"…She vants…she vants me to come back to the circus…she…"

"What?"

"…she…she says she…loves me…"

Ororo's eyes widened in shock as her hands flew to her mouth. Staring blindly around the room, she felt a cold sweat appearing on her brow and a sickness in her stomach. No! This couldn't be happening! She thought everything was going to be alright! She thought he was going to stay! She thought…But she loved him. How could he leave her now? Amanda couldn't just decide that she wanted Kurt to come back! That wasn't fair! Ororo felt herself standing up and running through the endless corridors of the house. Tears blinded her, as she slid, dangerously careening around corners and into walls. Her only saving grace was that the children weren't home to see this. The passageways seemed endless before she found a door. Heaving it open she stumbled out into the chilly life-giving air. But she did not stop there. Driven by the raw, bone shattering ache in her heart she ran, not caring about the wind and rain now lashing at her face. 

**You have a home**

**In a quiet place**

**And someone else**

**Feels your strong embrace**

**She is protected **

**And she needs no chase**

**And do you love her?**

A sudden peal of unexpected thunder roared through the huge house, pulling Logan's claws out instantaneously and making Kurt teleport to the head of the stairs. When both men realized what the noise had actually been, they relaxed. Logan's adamantium daggers retracted smoothly beneath his skin, and Kurt rejoined him by his side.

"Vhat vas that?" Kurt asked in a small voice. The Wolverine bent and picked up his half spilt, but remarkably still intact bottle from the floor.

"Dunno" Said Wolverine, looking about the ceiling. Scott appeared from the lounge. 

"Hey has anyone seen Ororo?" He asked, suddenly making both men aware of the possible cause of the freak phenomenon. Scott looked a little baffled as he tucked his thumbs into the waistband of his slacks. "What?"

"I'm thinking she might have overheard our little conversation Elf" remarked Logan as he sat on the bottom step of the grand staircase. Kurt's eyes widened.

"But…vhy vould she…"

Scott and Logan both frowned at him. "You obviously haven't noticed what we've been seeing Kurt" The blue mutant looked back and forth between the two men, bewildered and becoming a little nervous at their expressions. 

"She loves you Eistein! So go kiss and make up!" Growled the more feral of the pair.

"She? Vas??" The German held his head as it throbbed. She…loved him? She wanted to be with him. She…Storm; the most beautiful woman he had ever seen wanted…**him? A creature so wonderful and incredibly and astonishingly beautiful inside and out, loved…****him? Kurt felt his heart beating erratically. "Vhere did she go?" he glanced from mutant to mutant, but quickly grew impatient. With a snarl of frustration he disappeared in cloud of black smoke. **

"It's about time" Scott remarked, the vestiges of a smile tugging at his lips. 

Wolverine began to climb the stairs. "Yeah, for all of us" He replied cryptically; this feuding had gone on long enough and he was a big enough man, now, to end it. 

**You're a mystery**

**You are the heart of intrigue**

**You're no good, no, no good for me**

**But you have no idea**

Kurt BAMFed to the opened kitchen door, as it rocked back and forward on its hinges in the high-wind. He peered out into the tempestuous night. Trees buckled and bent over backwards, obstructing the large garden beyond. The clouds drowned out the light from the moon and stars, making the greenery beyond invisible to the naked human eye. But Kurt Wagner was no ordinary human. However even with his wonderful night vision he couldn't pick anything out in the terrible stormy weather. Closing his eyes he did his best to heighten his senses and pick his subject out in the mess. His eyes shot open and in an instant he had teleported out into the worst of the storm. He had never seen weather as bad as this before ever in his life and as he struggled to stay upright, his mind screamed that as impossible as it seemed, what Scott and Logan had suggested, had to be true. 

Cupping his hands around his mouth he bellowed out into the night, calling her name over and over. The powerful winds ate up his cries and left him mute and bewildered in the swirling darkness. Even the light of the house was lost to him. Teleporting in this situation could be very dangerous. Besides he had felt Ororo near this point. She couldn't be too far away. But…then what? What would he say to her? Would he confess how he felt to her? Would she run away? What if she didn't love him anymore? He would never go back to the circus now. He couldn't. Now he had a life here and had to put that part behind him once again. He wanted a life here, and the opportunity to live that life with his best friend and newly found love. He didn't know when he had slipped into her arms. Was it when she had spoke to him that night? Or maybe when he had realized that what he did affected her and not only that but **that very fact affected him. Maybe it was that day at the church when he had given over his love of Amanda to God. He knew it was not right. If she didn't love him in return he couldn't keep hanging on. In these few months spent at the Institute he had learned from self scouring and much conversation with God that the love he had for Amanda was a destructive one. The first thought that had crossed his mind when he had received her letter only a few minutes ago was of happiness. He was so happy that she had finally learned to love, not lust. Unfortunately the circumstances had meant that their hearts had not beat to the same rhythm at the same time. If the letter had arrived two or three months ago he would have jumped at the opportunity; but now…he had to find Ororo!**

Pulling the collar of his inadequately short-sleeved shirt up around his pointed ears, he stumbled through the driving rain until he saw a pale shape in the distance hunched over and trembling. Trudging on, he paused when he was within steps of it. Ororo knelt in the mud; her form convulsing with sorrow and her back turned to him. The lemon blouse she had been wearing stuck to her in the rain and was splattered with mud, as was her hair as it clung to her scalp. His own sat limply against his skull. 

"Ororo!" He called, his voice still having to be raised against the whistling of the wind. Her head snapped up and she turned to face him. Clambering to her feet, she faced him, tears still streaming down her swollen cheeks. The wind died down a little as she fought to control her raging emotions.

"I won't hold you here Kurt! I know you love her! I know you do! Go to her!" A sob cut off the last syllable of her sentence and almost had the elements crashing down on both of them.

"No Ororo!" he yelled over the rising of the tempest "I'm staying vhere I am! This is my home! I vant to be here! I vant to be vith you" He fought to get closer to her. All at once the wind shrank to a breeze as Storm stared in disbelief. Even with her mid-length ivory hair sticking to the rich coffee of her face, raindrops clinging to her tender skin and the torrents drowning her clothing, she was indescribably beautiful to Kurt. 

The rain lashed down vertically now. In the newly formed quiet, Kurt found his eyes blinking to keep the rain out. His chest heaved as he gulped the air. Ororo too fought to breathe, the icy chill of the rain seeping to her skin and the breathlessness of the wind now making it hard for her to inhale. The pair stood, eyes fixed on each other, separated by misunderstanding more than the reality of the world and its tempestuous elements around them.

"What?" She whispered at the heaving man before her. He took only two steps forward and found himself standing over her. A blue hand traveled to her face and banished the clinging tendrils of hair with a gentle caress. She looked up into his frowning but kind golden eyes, encased with dark sweeping eyelashes and saw in them nothing but want and love. She felt her body tense and she twisted to face him. They touched chest to chest. Kurt bent his head, the rain still battering off the two of them, causing her to eyelids to flutter. Through the damp cold of the air, he could feel her radiating heat. Heat that he hoped would become all too familiar. His warm breath caressed her skin.

"I vant to be vith you, alvays. I…I love you Ororo" Her heart raced as those ethereal, luminescent eyes sailed from hers to her lips and lingered there for countless laboured breaths. She suddenly wanted to touch him; wanted to know he was real, wanted to feel what she had wanted for so long. Her hands shakily reached towards his chest. She could feel the taught sinewy muscles of his pectorals, tightly knitted and toned from his days in the circus. Her palms burned, but she knew he was real. The rains calmed and left the two of them standing in the darkness. Ororo could see only the glint of his pointed teeth in the black of night, as he hung over her. Through his chest she felt his heart slamming against his ribcage just as forcefully as hers was. His oddly shaped fingers stroked the side of her arm as he leant towards her. Fine, shapely lips tenderly plucked at hers; offering not passing passion, but real feeling and depth. Kurt gripped her arm softly and pulled her closer to his lips again. A delicate breath washed over her again as Kurt seemed to just breathe her in, turning Ororo's knees to jelly. She held back no longer and captured his lonely mouth with hers. His breath was on her, his lips and hers. His hands found the area of her back where her whole being centred and held her so close to him, they might be the one being. She pulled his shirt to her; never wanting to let him go, as the mouth of the Nightcrawler plunged into hers. She became mindless by the wholeness of him. His taste, his smell, his heartbeat, his warmth, his touch. She slipped from his mouth slightly and they simply panted; his chin pressed against her forehead, she touching the slender skin of his neck with soft fingertips. They heaved in breathing as one creature.

"Kurt…I love you…" She held herself close to his face, their breaths once again mingling. In the darkness it didn't matter that he was blue, that he had pointed ears or a tail; he was a man. He was the man she loved with every fibre of her body. Dropping her face into Kurt's chest, she clung to him. His arms constricted around her, holding her preciously. Precious in a way the world had never allowed her to feel before. Her hand became lost in the dark shores of his hairline, fingers brushing against the healed sore where the mind control agent had been applied. She looked up doubtfully into his bright eyes in the darkness, but knew that now they were together none of that mattered anymore. None of the insecurities held any ground if he loved her. The world was a dangerous, unforgiving place, but in him she had found security, comfort; a home. 

**That I'm walking through the clouds**

**When you're looking at me**

**I'm feeling like a child**

**Vulnerability**

**I am shaken like a leaf**

**If you move beside me**

**And you're all that I see**

**But it's no good for me**

**No good for me.**

AN: ::le sigh:: I hope that came up to scratch with your expectations. I certainly met with mine. Looong chappie! But this is not the end of the story! No, no far from it! My inclusion of Gambit in this story is mostly for sequel purposes. He would create a nice reaction added into a Rogue/Bobby mix. Not that I have anything against Bobby. But it's part of the X-men law…Rogue and Gambit belong together. Whether it works out in the end, they do love each other and that's what counts. Anyway, please send all comment, criticisms and ideas through a review or via an e-mail. Once again "ah thankie you!" 


	7. Slide

**_Prayer of St Francis_**

**__**

**_Chapter 6 – No Good For Me_**

**__**

**_By Yamcha's Big Pants aka Kirsty Graham_**

AN: Hey guys. I am SOOOOO sorry about the last chapter. I know what happened, but I don't know why. I'm so sorry you all had to get headaches from reading it. But I've sorted the problem out now and reposted the chapter. So if you want to read it again "properly" It's up. I also feel bad because it was like, "THE" chapter! I was soo kicking myself. Anyway catastrophe averted. I'm also sorry this chapter took as long as it did, I've started working ewwwww! Oh and many people commented on the Gambit thing. It had to happen then because of the timing of my second fic, and also because it provided some good development for both Kurt and Ororo. Remember, any questions, or requests can also be made to my e-mail address. Thank you very much all those who've actually e-mailed me. I appreciate it very much. And thank you everyone else for giving this fic 153 reviews!!!!!!! It's staggering! Anyway…enjoy this sap filled episode, I'm going to slow down the pace here and just let all you love bunnies have a little bit of loving up. The song in this chapter is "Slide" by my favourite band right now, the "Goo Goo Dolls" and it does not belong to me. Neither do any of the characters featured in this story, they are property of Marvel and in particular people like Stan Lee. Anyway, Shian, here, crave no more! Enjoyyyyyyy!

**_Could you whisper in my ear_**

**_The things you wanna feel_**

**_I'd give ya anything_**

**_To feel it comin'_**

**_Do you wake up on your own?_**

**_And wonder where you are?_**

**_You live with your faults_**

**_I wanna wake up where you are_**

**_I won't say anything at all_**

Ororo clenched her eyes shut against the blinding glare of morning light which invaded her dream world. Licking her lips lazily, she rolled onto her back. She didn't feel so good. With a moan of frustration at waking groggily, she turned her head away from the light. Once safely in the shade, she risked opening her eyes again. It took a moment for her raw sight to register what it saw. The dark, lank form of the Nightcrawler drooped in a chair, his eyes closed in sleep. Soft breaths rose his chest in a steady calming rhythm, as the light from the windows seemed to oddly caress his tainted skin. A feeling of giddiness overtook the female mutant as she remembered exactly what had happened last night. He was hers. He belonged to her and she to him. No, more than that; he loved her and she loved everything about him. Gently peeling back the covers on her bed, she swung her legs over the side and sat for a moment or two. The incredible strangeness of the situation seemed to hit her and Ororo began to chuckle. Who would ever think that this could happen? Still giggling to herself, she delicately tucked her bed-sheet around Kurt's shoulders and made her way to her en suite. 

After quickly giving her face, hands and teeth respective scrubs, she returned to the room to find the chair vacant. Her eyes darted around the room, searching for the familiar blue form which had so consumed her since she had met him. Kurt lay on her bed, his arms neatly folded behind his head, his tail flicking backwards and forwards languorously as he mocked a yawn. Storm smiled sarcastically, enjoying this new joke he was playing. One gold eye peeped open at her, before closing quickly again. A large grin grew across his lips and he readjusted himself on the pale mattress. 

"Excuse me Mr Wagner, but I believe you're in _my _bed" She said haughtily, tapping her foot on the carpet.

"Hmmm…" He said lazily in response. "I vas thinking I quite like it, the chair vas rather comfy too. I feel I could move in here, so I'm afraid Miss Munroe, that it might no longer be your bed" 

Ororo sat neatly beside him and after a short pause-enough to unnerve the cocky Nightcrawler and force him to peek a look at her-she leapt on top of him. In any other circumstance, this might have been a passionate lust filled advance, but being post-argument, the results were far from raunchy. Ororo immediately began to tickle the man beneath her hands. She sailed roughly over his chest and arms, searching enthusiastically for that ticklish spot that would drive him wild. Kurt squirmed and chuckled incredulously beneath her, but in an instant he was crying for mercy through hysterical bouts of hooting laughter. Before Storm knew what had happened, she hit the mattress face down, with a large thump. Heavy breathing emanated from the chair beside the bed and the tell tale smell of brimstone invaded her nostrils angrily. 

**_So why don't you slide_**

**_Yeah I'm gonna let it slide_**

"Miss Munroe!" He laughed breathlessly. "You are an animal!"

She looked up, a little peeved that her plan had backfired and rested stomach down on her elbows. "But very much a female" Kurt looked surprised by the innuendo hidden within the comment, before blushing politely at his hands. Ororo smiled and reached out, covering his eerie digits with her own, beautiful coffee ones. 

"Kurt, thank you for what happened last night. I meant everything I said, you know…" Her dark rich eyes met his tawny luminescent ones. "Everything"

"Ororo…" He seemed to be speechless, finding it hard to remember what it was he was going to say. Unexpected tears leaked out from between his long dark lashes. He looked up at her, his eyes slightly pink with tears. "…You don't know how right this feels" His response was quiet and whispered. Ororo simply watched him for a few moments, moved by his emotional reaction. Sliding off the bed, she knelt on the floor and pulling his hand down she titled her head to right slightly as he came closer. Her eyes slowly shut as his lips touched hers softly. Kurt too shut his eyes, tears still gathering on the edge of his lashes, and moved his mouth gently against Ororo's, his brow furrowing ever-so-slightly. She broke reluctantly and looked up into those mild, enchanting tawny eyes. 

"It does feel right" A smile crept onto the lips of the Nightcrawler as he pulled her closer so she sat between his legs. His sinewy arms slid around her smaller feminine frame and held her tight. Rubbing noses lightly, they kissed once again; feeling for the longest time, satisfied and happy in each other's arms; feeling as though God had recreated Eden right there in that room, just for them. 

**_Don't you love the life they killed_**

**_The priest is on the phone_**

**_Your father hit the wall_**

**_Your ma disowned you_**

**_Don't supposed I'll ever know_**

**_What it means to be a man_**

**_Somethin_****_' I can't change_**

**_I'll live around it and wake up where you are_**

**_I wont say anything at all._**

The first snowflakes of November fell early, and September and October passed in the blink of an eye for the two tutors at the school. Christmas was tantalizingly close but still a mere speck on the horizon for all the inhabitants of the Xavier School for the Gifted. A whole month of chilly snow and extreme weather had been forewarned by the resident weather witch. However the freezing temperatures created an additional reason for Kurt and Ororo to hold each other close. They were careful at first to keep their relationship separate from their work as Kurt set to the task of establishing himself as a teacher. Unfortunately the close almost sibling bond he had formed with Kitty Pryde, of all the mutants, meant that it had not stayed under wraps for very long. Kurt had forgiven her on the grounds that "big brothers" were supposed to do that. Ororo had come to tolerate the constant slaggings she got from her students and began to find the small doodles she found being passed around her classes rather cute and humourous. There were however slightly more unpleasant disturbances to both teacher's tutouring groups. 

His Cajun accent, or his red on black eyes, or even his flirtatious nature did not get him into the bother he so often found himself in. It was rather his lack of control and freedom of expression with his mutant abilities that caused the majority of problems. Whether he was leaving highly-charged cards on other student's chairs, kinetically charging his homework before slamming it down on the teacher's desk, or pumping his classmates' shoelaces with kinetic power, blowing them from their feet and halfway across the room; he was always the joker. It seemed, however that Bobby Drake didn't find Remy's jokes quite as funny as the others did. Peter took him into his close circle of friends and characters such as Jubilee and her chums found themselves the centre of Remy's flirtatious attentions more often than not. But the Cajun Stallion had taken particular interest in the sullen dark haired "Rogue". Ororo worried for the girl; becoming involved with a creature as untrustworthy and dangerous as the Gambit was in itself a gamble. But she had seen the situations Bobby and Marie had pulled through together and was sure their bond was stronger than most couples of their age. One sleazy playboy wouldn't come between them, even if he was possibly the best looking male at the school. Ororo could testify that looks weren't everything; in fact, they meant nothing. Good looks were more a freak of nature than not so good looks. Her oddly shaped, blue-skinned, demon-like "soulmate" standing erect in front of his class as they recited today's lesson, was testament to that.

He mouthed the words of whatever it was they were saying in whatever language they were saying it. His eyes seemed to shine with a strange displaced sort of pride. What exactly was it he was proud of? Himself? The children? Storm leant against the doorway and noticed that one of the windows in the room was open just a crack. Smiling mischievously, her eyes clouded over with that strange opaque pearly glaze. Soon the sky grew dark and a vicious gale came tearing through the room, turning the classroom into a chaos of paper. The students screamed sharply at the surprising turn of weather. Kurt seemed to retract into himself as his sharp senses jumped at the disturbance. As he relaxed, Ororo chuckled watching the cogs in his head turn until he glanced at the doorway. A sarcastic smile unfurled on his small mouth. After a short pause in which the children made a drama out of the phenomenon, he spoke calmly, calming the children's chatter. 

"Miss Monroe, knocking vorks just as vell you know. If you are intent on disturbing my class, then you may as vell come in." She rolled her eyes and entered the room as the clouds seemed to disperse as quickly as they had appeared. 

"Good afternoon ladies and gentlemen" She addressed the class. Kurt seemed to lead them in greeting her back.

"Hello!....Guten tag!...hejsan!...Bonjour!...hola!"

**_So why don't you slide_**

**_Slide and I'll do anything you ever dreamed to be complete_**

**_Little pieces of nothin' that fall_**

**_On me_**

**_Put your arms around me_**

**_What you feel is what you are_**

**_And what you are is beautiful_**

She nodded back, grinning proudly at the whole situation. "Okay children, it's dismissal time, go put your coast and gloves on, Wolverine would like to see you all out on the playing field, he will explain the rules of a little game called…oh…"Operation snowball fight"." A resounding gasp surrounded the snowy haired teacher, and soon the sounds of chairs scraping and exuberant chatter filled the room. In record time, the class was empty. Ororo turned to her partner as he tidied his papers away, a large grin sitting on his features. He chuckled lightly. Ororo sat on the edge of the desk next to him and peered up into his golden eyes.

"What's so funny?" He stopped what he was doing and placed his arms on either side of her.

"Nothing. I just now vhy you and Logan get on so vell" 

She frowned in puzzlement at him. "And why is that?

"Because you both look like serious, but you are the most irresponsible people I have ever met!"

"Oh really?" Ororo smiled up in mock anger. "I'm glad you think so highly of me Mr Wagner! You know I…"

Kurt cut her off by placing his mouth squarely over hers, stopping her speech with slow undulating movements against her lips. His arms found her sides, and tightened pulling her closer. He peeled them off for a few short moments, enough for her to catch a breath and for him to smile smugly. She found her tongue again and was about to make some witty remark when he once again silenced her. Stroking his odd, talon like fingers over the smooth skin of her cheek, he kept the words at bay. 

"Miss Munroe. I have a bottle of French "Vin De Pays de Gers" cooling in a pile of snow outside my balcony. There are also a pair of steaks in the freezer vith a rather large post it attached vhich reads "touch on pain of death". I wonder, you would help me get rid of them later tonight?"

Storm squinted at him "So what you're really asking Blue, is, would I like to have dinner with you tonight?"

He shrugged playful "Something like that"

Storm pulled him closer to her mouth. "Okay" 

**_Put your arms around me_**

**_What you feel is what you are _**

**_And what you are is beautiful_**

**_Oh May_**

**_Do you wanna get married or run away?_**

**_I wanna wake up where you are_**

**_I wont say anything at all_**

Ororo finished wringing out the small blue jumper she held between her hands and flicked the rest of the remaining water out, before hanging it on the line. She had already dried off three jumpers, nine pairs of socks, seven pair of trousers and Lord knows how many gloves, scarves and hats. Logan's snowball fight had lasted for three hours, the children being, surprisingly, the grateful losers, and now the sun had fallen with swift descent in the west. The small laundry room at the back of the kitchen was only built for one person at a time, and not as much washing as there was. Storm wiped at the perspiration on her forehead with the back of her hand. Blowing a tuft of hair away from her face, she delved into the slopping wet pile of clothes again and pulled out a larger red jumper, belonging to Peter she assumed. Being the only female instructor in the house meant she had been landed with the job of cleaning up after everyone. The mangle was becoming tougher to turn with every article of clothing she dealt with. She was supposed to be meeting Kurt for dinner soon, and look at her! She looked like an old washer woman! The idea of Kurt's room, decked out in red rose petals, scented accordingly, lights dimmed and soft strings of romantic music filling the air flashed through her mind; candles, champagne, dinner and the Nightcrawler in a tuxedo, while she, the grubby old lady sat munching away on her streak, was laughable. However as if on cue, she heard that familiar sound behind her. Twirling around quickly, she found him sighing heavily.

"It's awfully hot in here, no?" He said rolling up his sleeves.

"Kurt! I'm sorry! It's just that the kids were out with Logan so long and their clothes…" he cut her off again by joining her by her side and looking enthusiastically through the laundry basket. 

"Ah, there we are, I'll do these three shirts and you can do those trousers. It will take half the time!" He flashed her a smile before starting to work. Mumbling over his shoulder, he added. "Then I'll show you real romance!"

Storm rolled her eyes and resumed, smiling. However a thought entered her head….Real…Romance?

**_And I'll do anything you ever dreamed to be complete_**

**_Little pieces of nothin' that fall_**

**_And I'll do anything you ever dreamed to be complete_**

**_Little pieces of nothin' that fall_**

**_Yeah, slide between the sheet of all the beds you never knew_**

**_Why don't you slide into my room_**

**_Just slide into my room_**

**_Oh, we'll run away, run away, run away…_**

AN: So this was an extremely fluffy chapter with nothing much really happening in it at all. Okay I jumped a large distance in time, but I felt more had to be said about particular occurrences. Anyway I hope you liked that….Next chapter – the dinner! What does Kurt mean by "Real Romance"? And can I still keep this fanfic rated PG-13 lol. Anyway I hope you enjoy it. God bless


	8. You Stand Here With Me

**_Prayer of St Francis_**

**__**

**_Chapter 8 – You Stand Here With Me_**

**__**

**_By Yamcha's Big Pants aka Kirsty Graham_**

AN: Hey Guys, I'm sooooo sorry it's been so long since I last updated this fic, but I have been sooooo unbelievably busy and have had absolutely no time whatsoever. I don't know if anyone reads this anymore, but with the release of X-Men 2 to DVD sometime in November, I'm thinking there will be renewed interest in this subject. Therefore, I thought it was high time to update. Anyway, I hope you guys enjoy and here you are "Real Romance". Here comes the disclaimer. I don't own X-Men (belongs to Marvel Industries) and this chapter's song is "You Stand Here With me" by Creed from the album "Weathered". I loooove this song J

**_You always reached out to me_**

**_And helped me believe_**

**_All those memories we shared_**

**_I will cherish every one of them_**

**_For the truth_**

**_Of it is_**

**_There's a right_**

**_Way to live_**

**_And you've shown me_**

Nightcrawler arrived in his room, surrounded by a black cloud of evanescence. Excitement burned in his eyes as he quickly scanned the room to assure its perfection. A comfortable little area of cushions and throws had been set up by the fireplace, its beautiful orange glow reminding him of his first real encounter with the weather witch. Smiling fondly, he observed the small camping stove with their food cooking soundly and the bucket of ice, chilling their wine. Turning swiftly he flicked on the little radio he had borrowed from Kitty; everything was perfect, now all he needed was the girl. When he'd left her at her bedroom door, she promised she would only be a few minutes. She'd looked great the way she was, however it was a good sign that she was willing to dress herself up for him. Maybe it was a sign from God that this was the right thing; that maybe she'd want this as much as he did. For the first time that day he let his shoulders drop and his body relax. Sighing deeply, Kurt let so much of what had been happening lately sink in. This was the biggest decision he imagined he'd ever have to make. The funniest thing about it was there wasn't really anything to decide. Letting out a pent up shaky breath, he was interrupted by a knock at the door. Bolstering his courage and composing himself, Kurt opened the door and beheld a sight much different from what he had expected. Ororo looked fraught. She was wearing her outdoor gear and pulling a pair of gloves on. 

"Kurt! I'm so sorry, but Scott called, he says Rogue and Gambit are gone! He got a phone call a few minutes ago from Marie's cell phone, but it was cut off. He thinks there's been an accident. We have to go and help them!"

Kurt stood for a moment before grabbing his own black coat from a nearby chair, and closing the door behind him. "Vhere are they?" He asked, marching with Storm down the corridor to the staircase. She pushed that snowy hair of hers from her face, looking as though she were their mother. 

"The Professor picked them up about 4 miles from here, near a river. Oh Kurt I'm so afraid something's happened to them" Her voice shook with uncertainty and fear. Nightcrawler took her hand and stopped her pace. She looked at him with terrified confusion. 

"They vill be alright, have faith in God Ororo" He looked meaningfully into her eyes until she smiled doubtfully. He always knew what to say to her. "Now come on ve vont find them standing around here!" 

**_So now _**

**_You live on _**

**_In the words_**

**_Of a song_**

**_You're a melody_**

**_Coz you stand here with me!_**

**_Coz you stand here with me!_**

Descending the staircase they found Scott and Logan carrying what looked liked climbing gear with them to the door. Many of the children stood around the foyer looking upset and worried. Storm viewed the scene as she bit fearfully on her bottom lip. Nightcrawler saw this and decided to take matters into his own hands.

"Right!" He said appeared in a vapour of blackness amongst a group of children. "Peter, vhere are you?" The large Russian raised his hand as he towered above the others.

"I'm coming too Mr Wagner!" he boomed.

"No," Was the reply as Kurt addressed the children, "Peter is in charge vhile the Professor talks to the emergency services and vhile ve go and try to find Remy and Marie. Meanvhile you vill all behave for him and none of you vill follow, understood?" There was a discontented murmuring in the ranks

"Understood?!" 

"Yes Mr Wagner" Kurt gave a sharp nod and with Storm, who had joined him he made his way to the door. Peter bellowed after him. "But Nightcrawler I can help!"

"You **are** helping Peter" He said turning to the large adolescent, calmly smiling. "More than you know"

**_Just when fear blinded me_**

**_You taught me to dream_**

**_I'll give you everything I am_**

**_It still falls short of what you've done for me_**

The jeep ride was bumpy and silent. Logan and Scott sat in the front, peering vainly through the never-ending sheet of snow as the window-wipers futilely attempted to clear their vision. Kurt and Ororo sat in the back being tossed around, but themselves as still as ice. However inside it was a different matter; each panicked and ran through the worst scenario their mind could create, the long minutes seeming like hours. Scott pulled the heavy car to a halt by the side of some deserted road. Wolverine turned on him.

"Why did ya stop?" 

Scott frowned "The Professor told me to," he answered quietly. 

A feral grunt was his only acknowledgement, as Wolverine flung his car door open and launched into the freezing snow. Kurt stole a glance at Ororo as she scrambled with her seatbelt to get out. Silently saying a prayer Kurt bowed his head. He prayed to find Remy and Marie safe, he prayed that no one would be hurt, he prayed quietly until a large rough hand wrenched his door open and pulled him out.

Snow carried by the wind, assaulted their visible skin with a ferocity that was biting and painful. Wolverine alone seemed to bear the elements and sniff the air. A low growl escaped his throat. 

"What do you smell Logan?" Scott cried, barely audible over the roar of the wind. 

"Marie! And that Cajun boy! His sensitive nose picked up faint familiar scents in the jumble of cold and ice. "They were here!"

The leader of the X-men nodded, readjusting his glasses. "Alright everyone! Spread out and look for them, Storm try and spread a little sunshine if you can!"

Ororo nodded. Bracing herself against the structure of the blue jeep, she raised her head as long tendrils of white hair escaped her hood and lashed out at the angry wind. Opaque white clouds glazed her dark eyes and the wind seemed to relent slightly, but the snow kept falling thick and heavy. The rest of the group spread out. Kurt hugged himself close, not being used to such negative temperatures. His two-toed feet sank deeply into the many inches of snow and he soon found himself wading deep into huge snowdrifts. Teleporting from area to area he discovered his moving became more efficient; but still no kids. The situation was becoming desperate, and he absently pleaded with God to let them still be alive. When a shout sounded from deep within the woods, Kurt's ears perked. With purpose he closed in on the sound and soon began to hear the sounds of a fast racing river. A red jacket appeared between the trees and Nightcrawler immediately knew Wolverine was heading in the same direction. The sight which beheld him was terrifying, chilling and desperate at the same time. A wide river, raced on a slightly inclined plane in a straight path down the valley, but forked off into two at a large boulder only metres from where the two X-men had emerged from the woods. Clinging to the boulder something dark brown was hunched. Kurt looked around panicked at the feral man beside him who paced slightly, scanning the situation for a possible way out. Returning his attention to the lump in the raging water, Kurt observed that the seconds of silence ticked past like hours. The lump raised its head and the frozen, bedraggled and pale profile of the Gambit was reared ever-so-slightly from the icy water rushing past him. From the fatigue on his face, it was obvious that his grasp on the rock would not last much longer.

From nowhere Scott and Ororo appeared. The weather witch's eyes were still ethereally glazed as she wrestled with the forces of nature to hold back the angry force of the wind. Scott frowned deeply but after a short moment grabbed Nightcrawler's shoulder.

"Kurt? Can you teleport to that rock and haul them out?" He half yelled.

Kurt nodded slowly. "Yes …but I don't have the strength to pull them from that current. If I let go, or drop them they'll be lost."

Storm turned her head, still struggling to maintain her concentration. "You mean Marie's out there too?"

Scott nodded gravely "Remy is shielding her against the rock."

"Good Lord" Kurt gaped out at the precarious perch of the slippery rock. How could he do this thing? This was about life and death. Was he ready for another decision like that?

**_In this life_**

**_That I live_**

**_I hope _**

**_I can give_**

**_Love unselfishly_**

**_I've learned the world is bigger than me_**

**_You're my daily dose of reality_**

"You're sure this is gonna work shades?" Wolverine asked doubtfully.

"I don't think we have time to come up with anything more refined Logan. It's all or nothing" Cyclops snapped back. Sighing nervously he looked at the group. He never going to lose any one again to the black heart of the water. "Okay do we all know what we're doing? Storm, what about you?"

The weather witch chewed nervously on her bottom lip as was her habit "I can't freeze the whole river, it's too big, I have to touch the place I want to freeze. I don't even know if I can do this. Bobby should have come with us"

"Well he isn't here O. He's back in Boston remember. So just concentrate huh?" Wolverine grunted. The pressure of the situation was getting to everyone. 

"Okay Nightcrawler, you teleport yourself and Storm onto that rock, then Nightcrawler will lower you down to the water's edge with his tail. You then freeze the water around Rogue and Gambit to give Nightcrawler time to grab hold of them. I'll shoot an optic blast and dislodge the ice. **At that exact moment Kurt has to teleport back to the shore with Storm, Gambit and Rogue, okay? Everyone clear?" The three remaining X-men nodded solemnly, each dreading their own role in the exercise. Kurt blessed himself before taking Storm in his arms.**

Looking down at her in his grasp he kissed her forehead. Storm gazed up at him with a brave façade. It hid her true fear well. "Ororo, I love you, I just want you to know, vhatever happens." Storm frowned

"Let's just get this done Kurt"

In a flash of light and colour, Nightcrawler and Storm perched carefully atop the rock. Holding each other for support, they stared down at the black icy water as a drawn southern face smiled up at them weakly.

"Monsieur Wagner, I-I-I n-n-n-never bin happier t-t-t-t'see no one" The Cajun stammered through the complete and utter chill that had spread dangerously throughout his body. 

"You can thank me later Mr LeBeau" Kurt shouted through the wind and snow. Turning to Ororo, he flicked his tail into her hands. Taking it gratefully, she nodded courageously at him before descending the rock. It was further than she had anticipated. Using her initiative, Storm hooked her jacket to the spaded tip of the Nightcrawler's tail and hung suspended above the water. Stretching her hand out, warm fingertips winced as they skimmed the surface of the unruly freezing water. A lacing of ice spread in concentric circles away from the bodies in the water, spreading about a metre out on the surface. Gambit cried out feebly in pain as the ice contracted around his midsection.

"Give me Rogue's hand, quickly!" Kurt screamed at the Cajun. Mustering all the strength he could, Remy rummaged for the dark-haired girl's hand inside his sodden jacket and raised it with his own to the strange blue appendage extended towards him. Once contact was established, the familiar yet bone-chilling noise of an "optic blast" sounded from the opposite shore of the river.  However in the moment of teleportation something happened. Something jarred Kurt's senses as he reappeared at his selected destination. Something had gone horrifically wrong. In the terrifyingly longest second of his life, he saw only two figures drop from his arms. Who was missing? What had happened? Why didn't it feel quite right? A cold sweat erupted on the back of his neck as realisation hit with the force of a freight train. It felt like he was weighed down with a tonne of breezeblocks as he tried to turn towards the scene of the most horrifying moment he had ever experienced. A chocolate hand descended beneath the raging current of the black, freezing torrent as the red energy dispersed from the rock. No sooner had a strangled cry escaped his lips than the half stripped figure of the Wolverine leaped into the water. 

The seconds dragged as Kurt rushed to the water's edge, his eyes frantically scouring the water over and over, struggling with all his heart to keep breathing. After what seemed like an age of pent up breath, the dark shape of Logan's head appeared from the water, followed by a long sinewy arm, battling against the flow of the current. Finally the snowy white hair he had begged the Lord with ever fibre of his being to save, emerged from the cold darkness. Kurt waded to his waist in the fast flowing water, to help Logan struggle the unconscious and rigid body of his soul-mate to the shore. Scott bounded towards them with blankets and foil sheets. Logan gratefully took them from Cyclops and wrapped himself up, all the while peering down helplessly at the weather witch as Kurt clutched her form, struggling to find a pulse. 

Pulling open her coat, he roughly wrenched her jumper up until only her sodden bra was exposed to the bitter chill. Clasping his oddly shaped hands over her chest Kurt murmured a quick and desperate prayer before pressing down repeatedly, pushing whatever water up and out of her windpipe. Kurt cupped his mouth over hers forcing life-giving air into her lungs to open them. With an all mighty coughing she rolled to her side and vomited up the murky chilled water onto the snow. Letting the relief be shown on his face, Kurt rested back on his haunches before quickly coming to his senses and bundling her up in his arms. 

"Is she okay Kurt?" Scott asked quietly. The Nightcrawler nodded getting to his feet. "Good. How bout you Logan?" Wolverine growled pulling his jumper back on. "Good, I'll go and get the jeep, keep those two warm until I get back"

**_Coz you stand here with me!_**

**_Coz you stand here with me!_**

**_On and on we sing this song_**

**_Coz you stand here with me!_**

**_On  and on we sing_**

**_On and on we sing_**

**_On and on we sing_**

In the back of the jeep Gambit and Rogue lay side by side, wrapped in foil and layers of blankets, fighting to keep their eyes open. Scott had warned against trying to physically warm them as it might damage their epidermis, especially if they had frostbite. However Remy had mustered the strength once again, to reach out for Marie's hand and grasped it tightly as she fought with her heavy eyelids. Kurt peered down at Storm in his arms. Scott was less concerned about her. She had only been under for a few moments; a few moments too long for Kurt. Ororo wrestled her eyes open and stared up at the blue demon-like angel who held her so preciously. 

"I thought I had lost you" He said so quietly no one else heard. Storm managed a smile.

"So did I" She croaked making him smirk though his throat was knotted. For a few moments he had. He had been utterly alone in the world again. The thought made him pull her closer. The only thing that saved her was the thing that had caused the accident in the first place. Her coat had been hooked to Kurt's tail, but it's spiny blades had made short work of the thin man-made fibres. At the crucial second, his tail had snapped through the lining and Storm had slipped into the frozen depths. However because of the air trapped within the lining itself, she rose back to the surface where Logan found her as he dived in. 

Kurt looked up at the man in the front seat of the car, towel drying his still damp hair and he smiled weakly. They were a family. The only family any of them had anymore. He now realised what a devastating effect it would have had upon him if anyone had been seriously harmed. When you had a heart as fragile as Kurt's it could be dangerous to love a family again. However his decision had been made for him; now he was sure. Kurt snuggled down into the seat and held his African beauty close; he was willing to take that risk.**__**

**_On and on we sing_**

**_On and on we sing_**

**_On and on we sing_**

**_Coz you stand here with me_**

**_On and on we sing this song_**

**_Coz you stand here with me_**

**_Coz you stand here with me_**

AN: So Kurt didn't get his romantic night in then? And what's this big decision he has to make? That chapter was fun to write and I think it gave the right sort of balance to the story, doncha think? I hope you liked it anyway. Please review and tell me what you think! Thankies! God bless bye!

****

****


	9. I Bruise Easily

**_Prayer of St Francis _**

**_Chapter 8 – _**

**_I Bruise Easily By Yamcha's Big Pants aka Kirsty Graham_**

AN: Hey guys, thanks for your fidelity towards this story. It really has been a dream come true writing it. I'm sorry for the huge gap between updates but I've had a lot of things happening. I can't believe it's been over a year since I last wrote anything for this story. I want to thank "Link of the Hyrulians" for inspiring me to finish this fanfic, I think there's going to be four more chapters including this one, I don't think you'll have to wait another year for the next chapter though. Once again I'm sorry for those you who have kept their eye on this fanfic. I'll try to keep the standard up J God bless you all. Here's the long overdue Chapter 8, enjoy. The characters featured in this story belong to Marvel and I use them without permission. The Song is "I Bruise Easily" By Natasha Bedingfield. I use this without permission of Natasha or her recording label. I earn nothing from the production of this material as it's only a hobby.

**_My skin is like a map, where my heart has been  
And I can't hide the marks, but it's not a negative thing  
So I lay down my guard, drop my defences, down by my clothes  
I'm learning to fall, with no safety net, to cushion the blow_**

Storm's breath hitched in her throat as a familiar pain shot through her side. Clutching her ribs, she sat down in the soft chair at her back. Kitty Pryde peeked up from her textbook, frowning in concern.

"Miss Munroe, are you okay?" She ventured, breaking the silence, at which several other students looked up from their studies.

Storm nodded, straining a smile. "Yes, yes, everyone, I'm fine, Wolverine can be rougher than he wants to be sometimes that's all" The students exchanged looks and began to snigger and jest. Storm felt her cheeks blaze with embarrassment. Her choice of words had not been wise "Everyone back to work" Breathing slowly, she knew she'd been lucky to have escaped with only a cracked rib. She could have ended up with pneumonia, frostbite, exposure, not to mention the fact she could have died. Still, it didn't take the pain away from the injury she'd sustained when Wolverine hauled her from the icy water.

The bell outside the door rang briefly giving way to the noise of scraping chairs and soft chatter. Storm stood up carefully and straightened out the creases in her suede skirt. "Alright everyone, I want that chapter complete for Monday." She doubted anyone had listened to her before exiting the classroom. Sighing gently she looked at the clock on the wall and smiled gently. End of class meant time with Kurt.

As though reading her thoughts, a black cloud of smoke suddenly appeared at the back of her class, in a second the first of a row of blinds closed over the window. After a series of explosions of vivid and pungent mist, the blinds had all been freed and the room plunged into semi darkness. Storm chuckled lightly. "Kurt? This is a classroom, what do you think you're doing?"

At that he arrived by her side, bending her backwards over his arm. "What vould you like me to do?" He asked a fang glinting in the dim light.

Storm gasped in pain, her cracked rib roaring in pain. Kurt, startled, righted her on her feet. "Oh, Liebchen, I…I'm sorry, I totally forgot!" He hung back, afraid to touch her. She glanced up at him, a reassuring smile peeking out through the aching pain she felt.

"It's alright Kurt" Wincing, Storm straightened up and breathed deeply.

Nightcrawler held back, causing an awkward atmosphere to develop between them. Ororo tidied her papers away, all the while Kurt watched her every action, still not sure if she was upset or not. He shoved his strange hands into his large pockets, waiting patiently for her. Finally, the snowy haired teacher picked up her ledger and smiled over at her boyfriend.

"Okay, we ready to go?" He brightened up instantaneously, offering to take the book from her. Holding the glass door open for her, he bowed, making her chuckle. "I'll say one thing for you Kurt, you certainly know how to make a lady feel loved."

"Not "a" lady, only you" He charmed, with a lopsided smile. He admired her graceful form as she walked down the corridor slightly ahead of him. The rhythm of her shapely hips, the coffee and cream legs which travelled so smoothly down to a pair of black high heels, that intoxication aroma of perfume, shampoo and body lotion which followed her everywhere; it drove him crazy. He, like it, pursued her to the hallway. She stopped just in front of him, and as he was about to take the opportunity to nibble her neck playfully, he noticed Rogue standing just over her shoulder.

"Is everything okay Rogue?" Ororo asked, obviously bothered by the rather bewildered look on the girl's face.

Rogue nodded slowly "I..uh…actually wanted to speak with Mr Wagner. Do ya have a minute?" She asked slowly.

Storm glanced at Kurt who shrugged his shoulders "Sure Marian, how about a glass of Pepsi in the kitchen?" He smiled encouragingly at her.

"Yeah sure" She replied, looking preoccupied.

There was a short silence, before Storm cleared her throat. "Well then, I'll uh see you in a little while then Kurt."

He gently took her wrist and drew close to her ear, his breath burning her skin and sending a pleasurable shiver through her body. "Vhy don't you change into something more comfortable and ve can have that date I promised you"

Storm focused her large brown eyes on his platinum pair. His pupils were wide in adoration. She smiled, several scenarios running through her head. Ascending the main staircase she gave him a meaningful look. "Come to my room whenever you're ready"

Kurt did not miss the suggestive edge to Ororo's request and felt his pulse quicken at the thought of a much needed romantic encounter with his beautifully exotic weather witch.

**_I bruise easily, so be gentle when you handle me  
There's a mark you leave, like a love heart carved on a tree  
I bruise easily, can't scratch the surface without moving me  
Underneath I bruise easily, I bruise easily_**

The light of the refrigerator bathed his indigo skin as Nightcrawler peered among the bottles and jars stacked in one of the Institute's large coolers. His oddly-shaped fingers gripped the necks of two bottles of coke. Rogue sat at the kitchen table, her arms folded atop it, her dark features staring off into a world only she could see. Kurt turned and noticed her lost look. He sighed gently, placing himself at the other end of the table, disrupting her line of vision. Frowning slightly, she took the outstretched bottle, but did not open it. Kurt took a short sip before placing the glass bottom on the heavy wooden table.

He waited for her to speak. When she didn't, he fingered a notch in the wood before speaking. "If, there's something wrong Rogue, you know I'll do my best to help, but perhaps, Volverine of the Professor might be better to…"

She looked up at him. "No, Mr Wagner-"

He cut her off "There's no need, please, ve're X-men, please call me Kurt" He smiled reassuringly at her.

Rogue shared his smile. "Thanks…but really, Kurt, I wanted to talk to you. Umm, I don't think Wolverine would handle this very well and I'd be embarrassed to speak to the Professor about it. Everyone knows you and Storm are an item, so I thought you'd be the best person to talk to about this sort of thing."

Kurt stared at her, his pointy ears standing to attention. "Okay…vell, seeing as you picked me…vhat can I do to help you?" Kurt felt he'd gotten himself in too deep.

**_I found your finger prints on a glass of wine  
Do your know Your leaving them all over this heart of mine too  
If I never take this leap of faith I'll never know  
So I'm learning to fall with no safety net to cushion the blow_**

Storm mounted the last of the stairs, and glanced backward. She suddenly felt herself being watched. The hairs on the back of her neck began to tingle. Trying to shake the feeling, she continued to walk down the corridor towards her room. Ororo glanced in the nearest doorway, but the room was dark as night was beginning to fall. The children would all be in the dining room, clearing up after dinner she suspected. Still she could not shake the feeling. Straightening up, she stopped in her tracks.

"Alright, I know you're there. What do you want?" She hoped dearly that it was just one of the children and not an intruder. Their gaze, however, was pervasive, not quite predatory, but penetrating and attentive.

"Got keen sense on you dere Miss Munroe" The rich Cajun droll jangled her nerves. He may have been many years her junior, but it seemed not even she could escape his sensual ways.

"Mr LeBeau, I don't consider it very endearing for a young man to be creeping up on a lady" She said, sternly turning in the direction she heard his voice. A swift movement in the shadows, alerted her to his physical presence. He stepped out into the failing light of the hallway. Wearing a black basketball shirt, he exposed his bronzed toned arms, his fingerless gloves remained however. He grinned out from beneath a black bandana.

"'Scuse me Miss Munroe, didn't mean to startle you." There was a meaningful glint in his strange ruby eyes.

Storm was growing impatient, she had a date with Kurt to keep. "What can I do for you Remy?"

Remy balanced a basketball on his index finger, he feigned concentration. Storm's frown abated. Remy seemed to be compensating for an uneasiness.

"Is there something wrong?" She asked, turning to face him properly.

He looked at her sidelong before letting the ball drop into his arms. He sighed with a smile, "Remy know you don' like him very much" He said unexpectedly. Storm blushed slightly. "S'ok Miss Munroe, no many people do."

She smirked "Besides the young girls I'll bet"

He looked up and chuckled "Yeah, we dat's what I wanna talk to you bout"

Leaning against the nearest oak panelled wall, she waited for him to continue.

Remy watched her. He held his breath slightly before looking down again and smiling. "You got ma number Miss Munroe, it's all I eva ben good at." He glanced up with a smile. "I guess I just got one o' dose faces eh?" Storm smiled gently. "But…" Suddenly becoming serious, Remy's face took on a mature air, looking older than his years; the signs of a hard lived life. "…but dis one…she's different" He said quietly.

Ororo frowned. "Who? Marie?"

He smiled a private smile, a soft, fond smile as though remembering something very dear to him. "Yeah, Marie" Remy spoke her name so softly Storm had no reason to argue with him. **_  
_**  
**_I bruise easily, so be gentle when you handle me  
There's a mark you leave, like a love heart carved on a tree  
I bruise easily, can't scratch the surface without moving me  
Underneath I bruise easily, I bruise easily_**

Rogue frowned deeply at the frosted bottle before her, squeezing it between both her palms. Kurt watched her silently.

"Do you think I'm a slut?" She asked quietly, daring not to meet his gaze.

He started, before smiling softly. "Of course not Marie! Ve can't always choose vhat our heart decides" She looked up at him, her eyes full of moisture. Nightcrawler, sensed the deep turmoil in her heart and raised himself out of his chair and travelled around to her side of the table. Rogue stared tearfully up at him. Kurt smiled kindly and enveloped her in a hug. Soon she began to sob quietly.

"I know how much your mutation must hurt you. Mine has held me back from being close vith people I cared about." Marie stared into the face of the blue demonic creature before her. She had to admit, she had been repulsed and frightened when she had first met him. He rubbed her arms reassuringly as he crouched beside her chair. "If you really feel strongly about him, then nothing should stop you being vith him. However I vould say that it vill be impossible not to hurt Robert's feelings."

Rogue's head drooped. "That's the worst part. I want to be with Remy" She looked up watery eyed at the table. "When I'm with him, I feel so right…like he's my soulmate or somethin'" Nightcrawler smiled to himself; he knew that feeling. "But I care about Bobby…I don't wanna break his heart"

Nightcrawler sighed. "Vell then, maybe it's time you spoke to Remy. Before you can make any decision, you have to find out if he feels the same vay; if he can love you, your mutation aside, the vay Bobby does."

"But-"Rogue started. Kurt placed a hand on her shoulder to calm her down. "But…I'm afraid he won't. I don't think I can stay here with him, like this, if he just wants to play with me. What would I tell Bobby?"

Kurt felt heavy inside. What could she do? He knew the pain of living with someone you wanted so desperately you'd give your last breath just to have. He had never advanced because of that same fear of rejection. How would Rogue be able to live around him, if he rejected her? He knelt back down next to her and turned her to face him.

"Rogue…Marie, I vill pray for you. Vhatever happens, please promise me that you vill not do anything to compromise yourself or God. You can say no, you have a choice. Don't do anything just to satisfy other people; your happiness is more important than vhat others think."

Marie once again teared up, but this time threw herself around the blue mutant before her. "Thank you Mr Wa…Kurt." He hugged her gently, his tail wagging slightly across the kitchen floor.

**_Anyone who, can touch you, can hurt you, or heal you  
Anyone who, can reach you, can love you, or leave you_**

So be gentle  
So be gentle  
So be gentle  
So be gentle

"So tell me how you feel about her then" Storm asked, folding her arms on the shiny finish of the library table.

Remy kicked his feet up onto the edge of the neighbouring chair. "What do ah say? She tres belle! Neva seen any tin' like her. Dat beautiful pale skin, dose big brown eyes, dat poutin' mouth. Only wish I could kiss it"

Ororo frowned. "All you can talk about's her appearance?"

Remy chuckled sitting properly in his chair. "Nope, dat's just for starters. Dat girl seems quiet and retiring, but she ain't. We had our little conversations, hung out, played pool and stuff.; got to know each other. Sure dere are some good lookin' girls here, including yerself" he said winking coyly at her.

Storm pulled him a face, telling him it wasn't a very good idea to even try it.

"But, it aint even her conversation or her personality" He said quickly continuing "She'd like a magnet, dere's somethin' about her dat makes me feel like I neva felt before."

"Are you in love with her?" Ororo said quite flatly.

Glancing at her uncomfortably, the young man shifted in his seat. "I dunno bout dat, neva ben in love before…but if I had to guess what it felt like, I'd say…yeah" He smiled as much to himself as to Storm. "yeah, maybe I am in love."

Storm looked at him doubtfully. "Does she know how you feel?"

Remy frowned "Course I tell her all dis. But she don' believe me! I give any'tin fo her. Any'tin"

Smiling a little, Ororo leaned across the table. "Remy you have to show her. You have to give her reason to believe you. She's got a lot to give up. A boyfriend, her security…her heart. You'd better be sure. It wont be an easy ride with that one you know"

Nodding, he agreed with her. "Heck I know dat. I aint in it coz it's easy. I'm in it coz I can't get out. She's got me reeled in, witout even trying" He became serious again. "I need her"

Ororo sighed purposefully. "Well then it seems there's only one thing you can do" She said getting up.

The young man looked confused. "What?"

Smiling she punched him on the shoulder before leaving the room. "Tell her how you feel"

**_I bruise easily, so be gentle when you handle me  
There's a mark you leave, like a love heart carved on a tree  
I bruise easily, can't scratch the surface without moving me  
Underneath I bruise easily, I bruise easily_**

Storm pulled her hair up into a French roll and examined her make up in the mirror. Frowning she dropped her hair back around her shoulders. She'd picked out a black skirt and matching three quarter length blouse. She'd never wear something like this around the campus, but this floor of the Institute was for the tutors only. Only a few months ago, they found themselves in a situation where they were running out of rooms for the newer students, so all adults had to move to their own floor; which suited Storm perfectly. Finally, applying a quick layer of red lipstick, Ororo took one last glance at herself in the mirror. There was a brisk knock at the door.

Opening it, Storm smiled modestly as Kurt's eyes danced over her body. His breath got caught somewhere in his throat and he almost choked. She felt like a silly little child as the heat rose to her cheeks. Eventually Nightcrawler looked at her face.

"Storm, Ororo, you look, beautiful!" He exclaimed reaching for her hand. Putting it to his lips, he closed his eyes and inhaled her unique aroma. Sometimes he felt the naggings of insecurity when she looked so mind-blowingly fantastic. He'd see in stark contrast his own ugliness and almost wish to be normal.

Ororo took his arm and he led her down the corridor to his room. He let her go and asked her to stand in the doorway for a moment while he teleported inside. She smiled at the thought of what he prepared for her. The heavy oak door before her opened slowly and exposed the most romantic sight she had ever seen in her life. The windows were draped with red curtains, save for one gap where the moon shone down. It cast a blue light over the floor by Kurt's fireplace which was covered in rose petals. A dozen or so sat on Kurt's bed, a red ribbon tied in a bow round them. As she stepped inside, she became aware of the soft candle light emanating from the fireplace and other surfaces all around the room, as well as the soft strains of guitar music which floated around. The door closed gently behind her. Soft fingertips enclosed over her shoulders and she reeled from the feeling. Two gentle lips caressed the nape of her neck and she went weak at the knees.

**_I bruise easily, so be gentle when you handle me  
There's a mark you leave, like a love heart carved on a tree  
I bruise easily, can't scratch the surface without moving me  
Underneath I bruise easily, I bruise easily_**

Kurt popped the cork on the champagne and poured a generous amount into a tall flute. Passing it to his girlfriend he smiled at her. She was still wide-eyed.

"Kurt, I still can't believe you did all this for me"

He smiled quizzically at her. "Vhy is it so hard to believe?"

She sighed resting on her elbow. They sat on the floor together upon a tartan rug. Kurt had prepared a bowl of strawberries which they sat and fed to one another. "I guess just because no one has ever done anything like this for me before. It's just amazing"

The blue mutant before her cupped her cheek slightly, staring straight into her eyes. "Vell that's the first thing to change. From now on you're the queen, okay?"

Storm chuckled. "Okay, whatever you say" She grinned. "How was your day?"

Lying on his back, Kurt closed his eyes and smiled contentedly. "Tiring. But it's beginning to get better" Smiling he opened one eye to wink at her.

There was a comfortable silence as Ororo drank from the glass her lover had poured for her. She stared into the flickering flame of one of the candles in Kurt's fireplace. Kurt began watching her, noticing her distant far off stare. He felt his nerve and courage begin to disintegrate as he stared at her beautiful lips, her smooth soft skin and her feathery hair. She was too much; too wonderful and beautiful. He was probably setting himself up for a huge fall. However, he had planned this weeks ago and he wasn't going to back out now that he was so close. Praying silently to God for the strength to be able to do what he had planned, he picked himself off the floor.

Ororo's daydream was interrupted as Kurt rose to his feet. She watched as he turned away from her and rummaged in a drawer. She was about to ask, when he turned his head to look at her. He half turned, still studying her. "Ororo…how do you feel…about me?"

Storm was more than a little surprised by this blunt sweeping question. She searched his eyes for his true meaning. "I love you Kurt, you know that" She felt her heart sink. What was happening?

Kurt nodded solemnly. "Yes I know." He came to sit down opposite her, his legs folded beneath him. "Do you know how I feel about you?"

She was really confused now. "Yes Kurt" She said uncertainly. "I know you love me too-"

"No" He cut her off abruptly. She searched his eyes, frowning. "I love you more than I could ever imagine. I love you more than I could ever love anyone else. I need you here beside me always. I can't live without you Ororo; my perfect, beautiful, graceful, loving Ororo." He licked his lips, nervousness biting at him like a rabid dog.

Storm's eyes began to well up with tears, her cheeks beaming a crimson hue.

"That's vhy I vant to ask you…" Kurt produced a small black box from behind his back. Inside sat a thin gold band atop it was mounted a trio of small white diamonds. "…Ororo Munroe vill you do me the honour of becoming my vife?"

**_I bruise easily  
I bruise easily_**

****

**_AN: So, what did you think? Did you see that one coming? Or maybe you didn't? I hope it's been a satisfactory chapter. Hopefully I'll be more forth coming in my next chapter ie; I'll have it done before next Christmas lol. God bless_**


End file.
